The Ghosts of Atlantis
by Reyson
Summary: Mysterious ghosts are appearing in Atlantis trying to harm its inhabitants. The race is on to solve the mystery and save Sheppard, McKay, Carson and others from murderous phantoms intend on taking lives. Many get whumped. COMPLETE
1. Sins of the Past

**The Ghosts of Atlantis **

AUTHOR: Reyson

SPOILERS: All episodes from season 2 are fair game (specific spoilers for chap 1 are Rising & Defiant One). Also mentioned is Pegasus Project (from SG1)

CHARACTERS: Sheppard, McKay, O'Neill, Weir, Teyla, Ronon, Carson, Zelenka & Lorne.

CATEGORY: Mystery/Suspense/Angst

RATING: General, T for violence and language

SUMMARY: Mysterious ghosts are appearing in Atlantis trying to harm its inhabitants. The race is on to solve the mystery and save Sheppard and others from murderous ghosts intend on taking lives.

FEEDBACK: Yes please, it'll keep the plot bunnies happy.

DISCLAIMER: This story was written for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. Stargate Atlantis, its characters, storyline and anything shown on the series itself belong to the respective parties who created them. All other original ideas, characters and story created here is the property of the author. This disclaimer applies to all future chapters of this tale.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks to ESCotLoE for her beta. All other mistakes are mine. This fic was inspired after reading the writing challenge created by PyroDragon2006 in "Color Blind".

oOo

_AN: First off, my apologies. The plot bunnies have suddenly multiplied dramatically, resulting in them attacking the writer with this tale and refusing to let her go until it was written. This is in response to PyroDragon2006's writing challenge in their fic "Color Blind". My version will be more spooky than funny. Also Jack O'Neill is in this fic as it's part of the writing challenge requirement. _

_Like all writers here, I get no profit out of this except for the joy of writing and for reviews from readers who enjoy it and are kind enough to let me know._

oOo

**1: Sins of the past**

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard awoke with a start and a gasp, drenched in cold sweat, as his eyes snapped open to gaze glassily at the ceiling of his living quarters. It took him a while to realize that it was still raining heavily outside; the storm had not yet subsided. Lightning from the turbulent skies above reflected through the streamline openings of his window's blinds, casting an eerie play of light and shadows that danced unpredictably in his room. The words of '_It was a dark and stormy night...' _came to mind. It seemed appropriate to Sheppard, seeing that he had just woken up from a nightmare that he would rather soon forget. It had been a long time since he had experienced that nightmare, that is, until recently, where the same nightmare had repeated itself over and over again for three nights in a row. It seemed odd, unnatural somehow. He thought he had gotten over the overpowering sense of guilt that he had experienced almost two and a half years ago. Now, he wasn't so sure.

As Sheppard's sleep fogged mind tried to register why he was having the nightmares again, it didn't take him long to realize that there was something else currently present in his living quarters. He sensed a wrongness, an eerie presence that wasn't meant to be. It made the hairs on his skin stand on edge with a creepy crawly sensation that there was danger present. He jerked forward, sitting up straight, pushing the bed coverings out of the way. More flashes of lightning occurred followed closely by booming thunder, and in the illuminated flashes of lightning, his eyes widened when he saw the pale, corpse like man who haunted his nightmares these past nights, watching him intensely with burning hatred in his eyes.

At the sight of the apparition standing at the foot of his bed, John's hand instantly reached for the sidearm that he kept close on his nightstand. He used to have nightmares about this man during his first year at Atlantis, but over time, the dreams had subsided considerably. All logic dictated that the man couldn't possibly be there, for Colonel Marshal Sumner was dead and had been dead for more than two and half years. Sheppard had been forced to kill his commanding officer when the Wraith queen had almost completed feeding on him. The sight of the man was like a shock to the system. Sumner looked unnaturally pale and creepy, just like a typical ghost would.

'_I see dead people...'_ The uncomfortable thought came to Sheppard's mind at the sight of the ghoulish presence of his dead commanding officer standing before him. For the first time in his life, John knew how that kid in the movie felt. If he confessed to Atlantis' resident psychologist, Kate Heightmeyer, that he saw dead people, she would have a field day with him. Somehow the thought of Kate and him discussing this specific topic brought to mind the image of a cat gleefully hunting a mouse, with him being the mouse. He didn't know which scared him more, facing his dead CO or revealing to Kate that he had faced his dead CO on a dark and stormy night. Somehow he felt the latter; his mind was his own, and that went along with his privacy. He didn't have anything against Kate herself, but he had a thing against psychologists, whom he felt loved to dig up past events that best remained buried. They always wanted to know how you felt at a certain time, how you were feeling presently, how you thought you were coping with a particular trauma, and John wasn't the kind of person who liked talking about his feelings or his thoughts for that matter. He dealt with things his own way, and so far, he seemed to be handling things pretty well, except for now... Now, he was seeing dead people... the ghost of Colonel Marshal Sumner no less.

Sheppard noticed that there was a strange ghostly aura that shimmered around Sumner as the man glared accusingly at him with dark haunted eyes that spoke volumes. Cold sweat dripped down from Sheppard's forehead as he stared back at the ghost of Colonel Sumner. John was not normally a man who believed in such things as ghosts, so he was finding it extremely difficult to accept the sight of the dead man standing in his living quarters.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked the phantom image of his dead CO. He could feel his heart hammering loudly in his chest. Sheppard rubbed his eyes, trying to shake the cobwebs out of his brain, hoping to discover that this was some sort of bad dream. But despite scrubbing his eyes and even pinching himself hard, twice, the ghostly image of Marshal Sumner remained standing at the foot of his bed. He wondered whether he was hallucinating, but as he didn't recall having a high fever, he had to dismiss hallucinations as the cause of what was he saw before him. There was of course two other explanations: one, that the presence before him was an alien entity of some kind taking the form of Marshal Sumner, and the other, that it might really be the ghost of his CO somehow come back to haunt him for his past sins. He refused to consider the possibility that this might be the real ghost of Colonel Sumner, so that left only the alien entity theory. The thing was, what was an alien doing in his quarters right now, and why did it choose the image of his dead CO?

Sumner was now glaring at him long and hard in that familiar disapproving manner which Sheppard clearly remembered. It was the same look that Sumner had given him when he first joined the Atlantis expedition, just after Dr Weir's speech when they were about to go through the Stargate for the first time. He still recalled Sumner's curt greeting to him: "_Let me make myself clear Major, you are not here by my choice." _

Unexpectedly, the apparition of Sumner shook his head, tilted his head backwards and broke into an eerie, ghostly laugh as if he could read John's thoughts. The phantom's next words confirmed that he could. "Soooo youuu still remeeeembered that, Sheppard? And I meeaant every daaammmn wooorrrd of it too!"

The apparition spoke in a dark echoing voice, that stretched out certain words for dramatic effect, very much like the voice one would expect from the undead. It reminded Sheppard of all the typical ghost stories that he had heard as a kid, and it lived up to very single scary expectation, except for the absence of jangling ghostly chains. He wondered whether this was the ghost of Christmas past come to haunt him for pass failures. After all, it was a few months short of Christmas. Yet, he found that difficult to believe, for he did not believe in ghosts.

When the apparition finished laughing, his features morphed into a look of amusement as he paused to answer Sheppard's initial question.

"Dammmmn youuu, Sheppard! First you shooooot me instead of rescuuuing me, and now you aaaasssk who I am?" The creepy and unearthly tone in the apparition's voice continued; it set Sheppard's skin crawling and his hairs on end. Despite the ghostly tone, the voice was still very much like the Marshal Sumner whom Sheppard knew and remembered. In spite of himself, and what he told himself, more and more he began to feel that this might really be the ghost of Marshal Sumner. "I thoouught you would have recogniiiized me well enough seeing that I haaaaunt your dreams offften enough. After aaall, Sheppard, I see you're stiiiill keeping my dog tags as a memeeennnto." Sumner nodded towards the said item on the table where Sheppard kept it.

Sheppard turned to look at the tags of the dead man, his frown darkening as he pointed his weapon at the bluish gray phantom. "Colonel Marshal Sumner is dead. You're not him, you're something else. Now I ask you again, who are you really, and what do you want?"

Sumner's face changed from the look of amusement into one of anger and hatred. "I'm here for youuuu, Sheppard! I waaaant my _reveeeenge_. You should have saaaaved me, Major! But instead you saved everyone else, even those Athoooosian fools, but you were too late to saaaave me! If you had come a little faaaster, acted a little sooooner, you could have saaaaved me. I counted on you, Sheppard, I was waiting for you to proooove yourself, that someone with your blaaaack record of not following the chaaaain of command could redeeeeem himself. I should have never truusssted you Sheppard, nor put my liffffe in your hands, for what did I get... instead? DEATH! While you got a promotion at mmmmy expense! You are a Lt. Colonel now because _I'm deeeaad _and _you're_ _still alive!_" As he accused Sheppard, Sumner's face suddenly began to age dramatically, as if he was having his life sucked out by the Wraith queen. Within minutes he looked sunken and corpse like, close to death as he would ever be—the image that haunted Sheppard's dream when he had aimed his weapon and shot Sumner two and a half years ago.

"Help me, Sheppard!" It cried. "_Help me!... Saaaaave meeee!_"

Sheppard felt as if there was a tight fist clutching his heart as he stared at the dying form of Colonel Marshal Sumner. It was as if he was reliving what he had experienced in the past, but without a Wraith queen this time. "I can't..." he whispered in desperation. "_I... can't..._"

The ghostly image of Sumner morphed back to his younger self again and gave John an evil, haunted look. He glared at Sheppard, and the force of his hatred was enough to shake John to the core. "I am heeeere for retribution, Sheppard. I was _muuurdered _by your haaands, and I am heeere to collect the payment."

The words of the apparition hit Sheppard hard almost like a physical blow to the body and deep within he felt an overwhelming guilt enfold him. The words were ones that he had battled within himself for many sleepless nights, especially during the early days after Sumner's death. He had never really forgiven himself for his failure to save his commanding officer, and to hear the words out from Sumner's voice was like making it true. "The Wraith queen was _killing _you! I saw your nod, your gesture of approval, I thought you wanted me to end your pain! I know that that was what I would have wanted!" Sheppard could not stop his explanation from escaping though wooden lips. He could not stop himself from wanting redemption from the ghost of his former CO.

"_NOOO!_" Phantom Sumner shrieked. "_I wanted you to saaaave me! _I wanted you to kiiiill that damn thing that was suuuucking the life ooouuuut of me!"

The guilt tightened its hold like a vice around him. Never in his life had Sheppard regretted arriving so late to the scene. If only he could have arrived sooner, he might have been able to save Sumner. He thought he had gotten past this, he thought he had dealt with the guilt he had over Sumner's death, but to hear this apparition, whatever it was, fling such accusations at him was difficult to say the least.

The pilot shook his head, his eyes tightening. "No! You're _not_ real! You're _not _Colonel Sumner!" he cried, trying to convince himself that it was so; it was the only logical explanation that he had. He _knew _he had _done _the _right _thing, he had to believe that. To think otherwise would mean that he wouldn't be able to trust himself—to know that he had made a mistake from what he believed his CO wanted. "You're not even real... perhaps you're a holographic image of some kind, here to play mind tricks on me."

"Oh, I'm very veeerrrry _reeeaaal _all right," Sumner replied with a glint of evil in his luminous eyes. "And to prooove it..., here's a little memento, and it's mooore than just dog tags this time."

Lightning and thunder boomed simultaneously then, flooding John's living quarters in stark white flashes of light. Through the flashes of lightning, Sheppard saw Colonel Sumner break into a cruel, menacing grin. This was followed shortly by evil, maniacal laughter. A strange lethal looking spear suddenly appeared in Sumner's hand. With another evil, maniacal laugh, he threw it at Sheppard screaming "Die! Sheppard! _Dieeeee!_"

John's eyes widened at seeing the spear being flung in his direction. With a curse, he dived off from the bed. Instinctive reflexes took over, and he brought up his 9mm and shot a round at phantom Sumner. The alien spear hit with an impressive thud into the mattress of his bed where Sheppard had been sitting only seconds before. Whipping around, John saw his bullets slice harmlessly through Sumner like rippled water to slam against the wall behind it. Before Sheppard could react, another spear magically appeared in Sumner's hand, then another. Armed with two spears now, he threw one first, then another at John.

"_Shit!"_ John exclaimed, his eyes widened as he made another mad dash for cover, the first spear missed him by quite a good margin, however, phantom Sumner seemed to anticipate Sheppard's next move and to the pilot's horror, he was flung backwards across the room as the second spear struck him full force in the left shoulder. Red hot agony tore through Sheppard's shoulder and his vision threatened to gray out as he hit the cold hard floor from the spear's deep impact. Agonizing pain crashed through Sheppard like tidal waves of exploding daggers as he gasped in shock at what had occurred. From where he lay, he still couldn't grasp what had just happened. He couldn't believe that the ghost of Marshal Sumner was trying to kill him. Something crossed his field of vision and he found himself staring up at the ghost of his former commanding officer, John's hands weakly grasping against the bloody shaft impaled in his shoulder. He looked up at Sumner's gloating features in shock and pain, seeing his death written in the face of his former CO.

"Goooood bye, Sheppard. I'll seeeee you in the afterlife," Sumner said softly to him. Sumner's voice held no forgiveness, no pity, only cruel indifference. Already Sheppard was starting to feel cold, he knew that he was going into shock from his injury. The last thing John remembered before he lost consciousness was seeing the image of Sumner dissipate in front of his eyes, like mists that had never been. The spear that had impaled him remained there for a moment longer, then it too vanished. With the spear no longer there, red hot blood suddenly started to spurt out from the hole in Sheppard's shoulder. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard made no sound as he bled unconscious on the floor.

oOo

Dr Rodney McKay was working late in his lab when he heard the unusual sound of someone clearing his throat. "Roddddney?" He heard a hauntingly familiar voice call his name, a voice that he had not heard for a very long time except in dreams that had haunted him for three nights in a row. Looking up hesitantly as if afraid of what he would see, his eyes widened and he gasped aloud in disbelief, his mouth opening and closing like a gaping fish in shocked horror. "Gall? Oh God! How how how is this possible? You... you can't be here! I.. I must be _loosing_ it! I must be working too hard..., perhaps I'm, I'm .. yes, that's it! I'm experiencing a nervous breakdown!"

Rodney started to pace back and forth rapidly in nervous energy, waving his hands around wildly as he went. Then he paused to feel his own forehead as he tested himself for a fever. "Hmm, I don't feel warm, so it can't be a fever." He turned to look at what he was seeing again; a lightbulb seemed to light up his features as an idea formed and he snapped his fingers. "Yes! Perhaps it's something that I ate that's causing some sort of hallucinate reaction! Yes, that could be it... Maybe, maybe it was that meatloaf I ate for dinner..., I _thought_ that it tasted funny... or maybe that new Athosian dish, what was it called? Hallo or Hanarkine? Yes that's it!... Oh thank God! I'm not experiencing a nervous breakdown, no, no, can't have that... After all I'm the Chief Science Officer, the Head of the Scientific Community, I _can't_ be nuts! This, this is just a hallucination ... a hallucination from eating something bad, or... or maybe I've just eaten too much.."

"Oh I'm verrrry real all right, Rodddney, and you're gonnnna be sorry for what you did to me..." The ghostly apparition stated softly in an eerie raspy voice.

"You.. you're, _you're dead!_" Rodney squeaked the last two words in a high pitched tone.

The phantom of Dr Brendan Gall who had shot and killed himself a little more than two years ago looked up at Rodney and gave him a wry smile. Rodney saw that Gall still looked old. The term 'half-eaten' came unbidden to his mind.

"I still aaaam." Gall replied with a ghostly hysterical kind of laugh.

"Wha, what, what are you doing here? What do you... want?" Rodney asked guardedly, frantically looking around and wondering whether he could get to the alarm button that was located at the corner wall of his lab.

The softness of Gall's face suddenly changed, morphing into furious anger. "_Youuuu!_" He shrieked. "I _want _youuu! I wanted youuuu to saaaave me!"

Rodney paled visibly. "I wanted to save you, Brendan, really I did! But... but, you _shot _yourself! You freaking took that gun and damn well shot yourself!" Rodney yelled back at the apparition that was Gall, his features turning a little redder with emotion.

"But thaaat's because _you _wouldn't _leeeave _to go help Sheppard! I had to doooo something soooo that you would go, I _begged _you to go! I was huuuurting, I wanted help! I kneeeew that you needed to help Sheppard! You saaaaid so yourself that you waaanted to help Sheppard. If you diiiidn't go, that centuries old super wraith would have kiiiilled Sheppard, then it would have come back and fed on the both of us! It's yooour fault that I am dead! You fooorced me to do what I did! You should have saaaved me, Rodney! I cooounted on you! It's all your faaaault that I'm dead!"

Rodney blanched, shaking his head furiously side to side as he closed his eyes tightly for a moment. "No, no, that's _not_ true! I... I tried to save you, really I did! No, you're not real, no, you can't be real! Oh God! This can't be happening! This _can't_ be real!" Rodney suddenly looked up, suddenly snapping his fingers. "I know! You must be a nightmare! I must be dreaming! I must have fallen asleep while working in the lab!" He closed his eyes and pinched himself hard. "Ow!"

He heard Gall laugh. "Oh this is _VERY _real, Rodney! All of youuuul will find out that this is veeeery reaaal..."

The ominous words didn't sound good at all. Rodney heard a faint clicking sound, and he opened his eyes to see Gall aiming a gun at him, probably the same gun that he had shot himself with. "Goodbye Rodney," Gall said as he pulled the trigger.

"Oh crap!" Rodney screamed as he ducked just in time behind his lab desk. The bullet hit the side of the desk and ricocheted off to one side sending small splinters flying in all directions. Rodney whimpered behind his desk, cowering and folding his hands above his head. His heart was racing like a wild jack rabbit about to have a fit. The bottom tip of his ear felt wet and painful, touching it, he found his hand wet with blood. It looked like one of the small splinters had cut his ear. "Oh God! I've been decapitated!" he stammered in horror at the blood on his hand. From the blood rushing through his ears and the pounding of his rapid heart, it took him a while to realize that his lab had gone suddenly quiet.

"Gall?" he called out tentatively, looking towards the last sighting of the dead man. There was no reply, for what seemed like a long time, Rodney sat there quivering like a mouse. However, after a while, when he realized that there was no more gun shots or noise, Rodney felt brave enough to take a peek out from under his cover. "Brendan?" he called out the name again. This time he saw that there was nobody there. The ghost of Dr Brendan Gall was gone.

oOo

TBC

_Feedback is appreciated. _


	2. Unexpected Visitors

**The Ghosts of Atlantis **

_AN: Gosh, thanks for all the encouraging reviews everyone (does happy dance). If you're thinking of getting me to post faster because of it, it's working! As a pressie, here's chap2 for you. _

**2: Unexpected Visitors**

General Jack O'Neill stared vacantly at the ceiling of his temporarily living quarters, listening to the sounds of the thunder storm outside. At present he was laying on his bed with his hands folded casually under his head as he contemplated his day. It had been a most interesting day indeed for Jack O'Neill, and his face held a tiny smile of smugness as he recalled how his unexpected arrival on the F302 had surprised everyone on Atlantis. He had spent almost a month aboard Daedalus and this would be his first night as a VIP guest in the Ancient city. Atlantis, the Lost City of the Ancients, the city that had Daniel Jackson's eyes lighting up every time this city was mentioned. It was strange to know that he had part of the Ancient gene in him; it was strange to contemplate that he had the Ancient repository downloaded not once but twice in his brain... and both times it had almost killed him. It was also strange to think that he was now in a place where all those Ancients used to live.

So here he was, on a visit that was partly official, partly vacation. Daniel had pestered him to visit Atlantis ever since the entire team of SG1 had visited it a few months ago. "Oh you don't know what you're missing, Jack!" Daniel Jackson had said excitedly over the phone. "You should have seen it! It was everything that I expected it to be, maybe even more! I tell you Jack, if you have an opportunity to visit it, don't pass up the offer! It's amazing, just think of all the things we could learn from the City of the Ancients. I wish I were there now instead of here on Earth having to battle with the Ori."

Yeah, yeah, so Danny boy had yammered on about the amazing tour he had within the city of Atlantis, the wondrous sights he had seen. "Uh huh. Yeah, uh huh..." Half the time, O'Neill's mind was somewhere else, away with the faeries, as Jackson rattled on about all the archaeological marvels available within the Ancient City of Atlantis, even about how he actually met an Ascended being there pretending to be a holographic image. It was then that Jackson's voice had darkened with a trace of guilt. However, by then Jack's curiosity had peaked and he almost wished that he had been with SG1. So when the offer finally came from the top brass, asking Jack whether he would like to visit the Ancient City of Atlantis and see for himself what he and his team had helped discover two and a half years ago, and report back to them, something about what Daniel said clicked and he decided to accept the offer.

However, after spending the first week on board Daedalus, he had become bored—totally and utterly bored. As a General, there wasn't much for him to do aboard a battle cruiser as he was considered too important to be given any duties to perform. And as he wasn't there on a mission or to command the ship, there wasn't much for him to do anyway. When he asked if he could help out, he always got the usual polite response of "Sit down, sir. Relax. Don't worry sir, we've got it under control." These officers aboard the Daedalus were nothing but competent; everyone performed their duties like a well oiled machine. So he had spent time pestering Hermiod instead, asking after his good buddy Thor, and then he had pestered the little guy some more, just for the fun of it. It was entertaining to see how much patience the little Asguard had (which was a lot), even though it was obvious to all that O'Neill was getting on the alien's nerves. _Those little guys, you've just gotta love them!_ Jack thought to himself with a smug smile. After all, they had named one of their first battle cruisers after him, so how could you not love the little fellas? But Hermiod wasn't the only one to fall prey to Jack's boredom, soon he began to get into everyone's way, and being a General, no one felt that they could tell him to stop distracting them with silly questions. That is, until Colonel Caldwell allowed him to take a spin on one of the F302s when Daedalus finally came out of hyperspace. Grinning like an excited teenager, Jack O'Neill was not one to turn down the offer; since making General, he had been stuck behind the desk for far too long—he needed to stretch his legs, or more his wings, so to speak.

So without much ado, he had strapped on some flight gear and took off on the F302, flying the rest of the way to Atlantis. Jack noted that he rather enjoyed the flight, more so when his unconventional arrival took Dr Elizabeth Weir and most of the Atlantis personnel by surprise. After all, the head of the Atlantis expedition was expecting their VIP to arrive on board the Daedalus, like any normal conventional VIP. But General Jack O'Neill was anything but conventional; he liked surprises, and he liked to keep people on their toes, especially if he was somehow part of that surprise. So he had grinned like a Chessire cat when he arrived on an F302 to Atlantis unexpectedly. Before Jack had left Daedalus, he had given Colonel Caldwell strict orders not to inform Atlantis about his arrival on the F302 as he wanted to surprise them himself. When he had reached within communication range of Atlantis, surprise them he did, by informing them who he was and why he was there.

After the usual meet and greet, he had the opportunity to speak privately to Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. Jack had been following Sheppard's progress on the Atlantis expedition with keen interest. Unbeknown to most people, he was the one who had approved Sheppard's promotion to Lt. Colonel. Heck, he was the one who had convinced Sheppard to join the Atlantis expedition in the first place. He knew that he liked the confident, easy going, brash young pilot as soon as he met Sheppard in that copter flight to Antarctica. He had a cool head under pressure and could handle that helicopter like a pro. Being a test pilot himself, Jack knew natural talent when he saw one, and Sheppard he knew, had that magic touch in him that made him one damn fine pilot. Sure, he knew all about Sheppard's black mark in Afghanistan; his laid-back attitude, his penchant for trouble, his complete disregard for the chain of command: in fact, Sheppard reminded Jack of his younger self. Jack smiled in reminiscence. It wasn't until he was made General did he realize how important it was for the chain of command to be obeyed. However, he still felt that it should only be obeyed if it were given by reasonable guys like himself or General Hammond, not like idiots like Kingsey or Maybourne. Nope, he had every confidence that Sheppard knew what orders to obey and what to disregard. That was why he liked the guy so much, and that was why he felt that Sheppard would be the perfect for the job of Head of the Military contingent on Atlantis. When you're out there fighting bad ass aliens, you had to count on your own good judgment, not on some military brass who sat in an office a million miles away from where you were, and sometimes, you had to break the chain of command especially if your actions could save Earth or the lives of people who counted on you. Jack knew this from first hand experience, as he and SG1 had done that before.

O'Neill was still thinking about his day, the people he met and his tour around Atlantis when he heard a child's soft giggle. Jack lifted up his head, looking carefully around the dark quarters. He could hear the rain pounding heavily outside. Occasionally there were flashes of lightning and thunder that illuminated his guest quarters. He was certain that Dr Weir didn't mention anything about Athosian mainland children being in the city at the moment.

"Hello?" he called out softly, hearing the sound of a child's giggle again. Then through the shadows of the night, he heard a child's hauntingly familiar sign-song voice that made his heart skip a beat and ache with painful remembrance.

"_Youuu... caaan't... catch me!"_ A child's blond head popped up from behind the nearby table and made a dash toward some cabinets, just as the lightning from outside illuminated the room and thunder boomed.

"Charlie?" Jack O'Neill called out, feeling shocked to the core at seeing and hearing his dead son again. '_What the hell is going on here?_' he thought to himself. Charlie was dead, long dead and buried, more than a decade ago. Who was this kid that looked and sounded so much like his dead son? Somehow, he didn't think it was the same crystal alien entity that had taken the form of his son's likeness so many years ago.

The boy popped his head again sideways from behind the cabinet just as another set of lightning flashed. There was a strange ghostly aura around the kid. "Hey daaaad! Goooood to see youuuu. Wanna play catch?" The boy threw the baseball at Jack O'Neill who instinctively caught it with his hand. However, as soon as he caught it, what appeared to be a normal baseball suddenly turned red hot and began to burn Jack's hand.

"Aaagh!" he cried, dropping the scalding baseball to the ground. His hand throbbed with waves of pain, and looking at the palm of his hand, he was surprised to discover that it was actually quite badly burnt. Ugly burnt blisters were quickly forming on his skin. "Crap!" he uttered and winced at the pain.

Lightning flashed and thunder resounded once again, and the ghost child started to laugh; an eerie, frightening, cruel laugh—a laugh that made Jack know instinctively that the child who stood before him couldn't possibly be his dead son. He was suddenly very angry, and his anger led him to tackle the apparition who looked like the splitting image of his long dead son. To his surprise, he ran right through the boy, and as he did so, he felt an unexplained feeling of coldness, a shimmering wave of darkness, anger, guilt and regret, and the sensation as if someone had just walked over his grave.

"Oh, for crying out loud! What the hell is going on here?" Jack cried out again as his forward momentum slammed him towards the wall. Fortunately, while painful, he managed to stop in time before he did himself any permanent damage.

The apparition of Charlie then began to yell. "_Your faaaault dad!_ It's aaallll your fault! I'm _dead _because of _you!_ I didn't get a chance to grow up becaaaause of you! It was _your_ gun that _killed _me! _Your_ gun, which _you _leeffft around so that _I_ would find! It should have beeeeen _you_, dad, not _meeee_!"

To hear the words of accusations coming out from the apparition that was the spitting image of Charlie brought back an overwhelming sense of guilt into Jack. It had been a long time since he had felt the sensation, a very long time in fact. The worst experience was shortly after Charlie's death, when he fell into dark depression contemplating suicide. Then the Stargate program had found him, and he had accepted a suicide mission to save the world instead. However after meeting up with Dr Daniel Jackson and saving the universe from bad ass aliens, he found the courage and the will to continue living. The Stargate program and his team gave him a sense of purpose and a life back again.

Jack frowned as he looked at the apparition that was the splitting image of his dead son. He did not like how the phantom before him was making him feel. He tried to brush off the waves guilt that seemed to want to sink into him. No, something seemed wrong here, he shouldn't be feeling like this. He knew that the apparition in front of him wasn't his son, yet, being close to its proximity seemed to bombard him with feelings of guilt and despair. He found himself wanting absolution, redemption from the ghost before him.

He shook his head, trying to sort out his feelings, trying to clear his muddled thoughts. His burnt hand throbbed painfully with the beat of his racing heart. He saw the boy take out another baseball in his hand, bouncing it playfully at he caught it with his hand. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed; Jack knew what was coming as he saw the boy's playful smiling features change to hatred as he threw another baseball at O'Neill, this time aiming for his head. Eyes widening with alarm, Jack dived out of the way in time. The baseball hit the wall behind him with a thud then bounced back to roll at the boy's feet only to disappear as the apparition looked at it. The ghost of Charlie followed shortly. However, before the apparition disappeared, he said in a low ominous voice: "_I'll be back..._"

It reminded Jack of the Terminator's famous words though the kid had to ruin the effect by the last word of "..._Dad._" He winced not liking the sound of that word especially from the ghostly apparition that looked like his son, but he felt wasn't his son. Yet, despite knowing this, something within him still seemed to want to make him believe that it was still his son; that he could appease the ghost of Charlie somehow. It was a strange paradox that he could not explain.

When he was alone in his living quarters again, Jack breathed a sigh of relief. He looked around at the now empty quarters, noticing that the first phantom baseball was also no longer on the floor where he had dropped it earlier. However, the throbbing pain of his burnt palm was still there, evident that whatever he had just experienced was not a dream. Shaking slightly, his tall frame staggered to the bathroom. He opened the tap and placed his burnt hand under cold running water. After a few minutes, he wrapped his injured hand with a clean cloth that he had found in one of the cabinet drawers in his quarters.

He knew that a visit to the infirmary was in order. However, before he did so, he wanted to get to the bottom of this. He looked at the time, it was fifteen minutes past midnight. Most people he knew would probably be asleep by now. However, with the wild thunderstorm going on, he wondered whether anyone could sleep through it. Changing quickly, he headed towards Sheppard's quarters. He knew the pilot's quarters was just down the corridor from his guest quarters. Sheppard was military, he wouldn't mind being woken up in the middle of the night, especially if the person who was doing the waking was an Air Force General, O'Neill thought smugly to himself. Sometimes there were advantages to being a General.

oOo

As Jack stepped outside his quarters, he nearly bumped into a tall fierce looking warrior with dreadlocks. He remembered being introduced to this man before and he recalled that the man was part of Sheppard's team. "Hey, Rohan fancy meeting you at this time of the night."

The tall man scowled at Jack, halting in front of him, breathing heavily. "Name's Ronon," he replied curtly. _'Doh!' _Jack winced at his mistake. He was never good at names. Somehow this guy reminded him of Teal'c, but taller and with dreadlocks. "Yes, right, sorry about that," he waved his uninjured hand in the air, dismissing his mistake. "So, Ronon, whatcha doing at this odd hour?" Jack asked, sincerely curious as he started walking again.

"Running," Ronon replied.

"Oh, yes... running," he paused, considering the matter further. "I hear that's good for ya." Jack finally quipped. However, it was an odd hour to go for a run, so he had to ask, "Isn't it a little late to go for a run?"

Ronon gave him an unreadable look before replying. "I had trouble sleeping tonight."

'_O-kaaay, that made some sort of sense_', Jack thought to himself; there was a thunderstorm going on at the moment, and the big guy probably didn't like thunderstorms, or he probably needed to burn off some energy. He looked at Ronon again, wondering what else to say. "Soooo," he said with a friendly smile, rocking backwards slightly on his heels, "Tell me, who does your hair for you?" Yeah, sure it was an odd question to ask, but he was _really_ curious how the tall warrior got his dreadlocks. Actually he thought that Ronon's dreadlocks looked pretty messy so maybe the warrior did it himself. But...how did he wash it? Did he even _wash _it?

Ronon gave him an odd look then his gaze went to the wrapped up cloth around Jack's injured palm.

"Are you injured?" Ronon asked.

"Oh this?" Jack said waving his painful hand. "It's nothing, well, actually, it's not nothing, but something, but nothing that the good doc can't fix," he replied. He then paused as he thought of something. "Say, Ronon, have you seen anything ... strange... lately?" he asked the big guy. His outfit reminded him of a cowboy, and he wondered whether anybody had referred to Ronon as such.

"Strange?" Ronon repeated the word, obviously not understanding where this conversation was heading.

"Right, strange, you know.., like ghosts of dead people that you might know? You know the type you encounter on Halloween night?" Jack replied. Yet as soon as he finished speaking he saw a puzzled frown form on the Satedan's face, one which he was very familiar with, having seen it on Teal'c face on numerous occasions especially when he first came to Earth. "Riiight, you're not from Earth are you? Never heard of Halloween, I suppose? I thought not," he stated when he saw Ronon shake his head. "Nevermind..."

The sound of gunshots coming from John Sheppard's quarters interrupted their conversation. Jack remembered the reason why he was heading towards Sheppard's quarters in the first place. If his experience was anything to go by, it looked like the pilot was having some unexpected night visitors of his own. He took out his 9mm revolver and dashed towards Sheppard's quarters with Ronon Dex arriving there first.

"Sheppard? You okay in there?" Jack called out, as his hand reached to open the door. There was no reply. Dammit, this wasn't good. Without waiting further, he pressed the button and as soon as the door opened, he entered the darkened quarters with Ronon moving ahead of him. Both men had weapons ready at hand.

"Sheppard!" he heard Ronon call out as the warrior headed towards a bleeding Sheppard lying unconscious on the floor. _Dammit! _Jack thought to himself as he flicked on the comlink that he had been given when he first arrived in Atlantis. "This is General O'Neill, I need medical personnel sent to Colonel Sheppard's quarters immediately!"

oOo

TBC

_AN: It was never really shown on the series itself who approved the promotion of Sheppard, the bit where I mentioned O'Neill approving it was just creative license on my part. _


	3. The Waiting Game

**The Ghost of Atlantis**

**3: The Waiting Game**

Dr. Elizabeth Weir hurried to the infirmary to see O'Neill, Ronon, Teyla and Rodney anxiously waiting there for news about Sheppard. So far she had been getting various reports of ghosts appearing and attacking people. The infirmary in fact looked a little like a war zone; it was filled to capacity with numerous Atlantis personnel, all looking quite bruised and banged up or injured in some way. Fortunately, most of the injuries were not life threatening, so they were treated and then sent back to their quarters to rest. The only exception was Colonel Sheppard. Weir had heard that he was found lying unconscious and bleeding from what appeared to be a deep stab wound on the left shoulder. What had caused it was yet to be determined as no weapon had been found in the Colonel's quarters. But from what Elizabeth had heard from other reports of ghostly disturbances in Atlantis, most likely there would be no weapon to find. If O'Neill and Ronon had not found Sheppard when they did, the Colonel would have probably bled to death. Weir shuddered at the thought. They were lucky that with all the ghostly attacks there had been no fatalities so far.

As Elizabeth arrived at the infirmary, she saw that O'Neill was having the palm of his right hand attended to by a nurse, while Rodney sprouted a white bandage on his ear. She understood that a doctor had already examined the two men and had left with instructions for the nurse to treat their injuries. Ronon, she saw, was standing in a shadowy corner with his back leaning against the wall, his arms folded and his chin resting on his chest. Teyla was the only one sitting calmly on one of the visitors chairs.

"Hey, any news, yet?" she asked worriedly as she approached Sheppard's team.

"No, Dr. Beckett is still operating on Colonel Sheppard at the moment," Teyla replied with a welcoming smile. "I am sure John will be fine," she said although her voice sounded concerned.

"Yeah, but you don't _know _that for certain!" Rodney cut in. His voice sounded nervous, on edge. "I was here when they brought Sheppard in. You didn't see him bleeding like a gutted pig, there was blood everywhere, I heard they were having trouble stopping the bleeding," he shuddered worriedly. "I'll say Carson has his hands full right about now."

"Well, we will just have to have faith in the abilities of Dr. Beckett." Elizabeth interjected calmly, although inwardly, she was anything but calm. "How long has he been in there?"

"Approximately half an hour," Teyla replied.

Weir nodded. "I got the report of how General O'Neill and Ronon found Sheppard. But do you want to fill me in your own words what happened?"

At Elizabeth's question, Ronon spoke up. "General O'Neill and I heard shots coming from Sheppard's room. When we arrived, he was already unconscious and bleeding from his wound."

That was Ronon, short, concise and to the point. Not a man to mince words. She looked at O'Neill for further explanation, but unfortunately Jack was no help either as he gestured towards the tall Satedan and quipped, "What he said."

"Okay... Care to explain to me how the two of you were injured? Jack? Rodney?" she turned to address the two men.

As Elizabeth asked her question she saw Jack give a small grimace and go rigid as if he didn't want to talk about it. So she turned towards Rodney instead. "Rodney? Why don't you go first?"

"Well... er... I was working late in my lab, when I heard someone call my name. When I looked up there was Dr. Gall looking all spooky and scary," Rodney replied as he fiddled with the bandage on his ear and winced.

Elizabeth frowned. "Dr. Brendan Gall?" she asked, wanting clarification that she had heard the name right.

"Of course, Brendan Gall, is there another Dr Gall in Atlantis that you know of? Did you expect Marshmallow man?" snapped McKay.

However, Rodney's acerbic reply did not faze her. "What happened next, Rodney."

"Yes, well, the thing is, I've been having nightmares about Gall for a couple of nights now. It was the reason why I was working late in my lab, I didn't want a repeat session of those nightmares. But oh boy, what do I get instead, a physical manifestation of the ghost himself! If I'd known that was going to happen, I should have gone to bed, cos at least it would have been a genuine nightmare... He shot me, did you know that? He started screaming at me, blaming me that it was all my fault that he was dead, even though it was Gall who shot himself. I now have one earlobe shorter than other!..."

Rodney rambled on, but Elizabeth saw O'Neill react to the word 'shot himself' and a pained expression crossed his features.

"Was he someone close to you?" O'Neill cut in quietly.

"Huh?" Rodney said looking up at the General quizzically.

O'Neill sighed, clearly impatient with McKay. "The ghost who shot you, was he a relative? Brother in law or close friend, that sort of thing?"

Rodney gave Jack a look as if he thought the general was stark raving mad. "Are you out of your mind, General? Of course not! He was a work colleague, nothing more. I wouldn't say we were close, more like competitors."

"I see." O'Neill replied before looking down at his burned hand that the nurse was still attending to. "Well that's good," he murmured softly, his eyes taking on a sad distant look. Then as if becoming aware of Elizabeth's scrutiny, Jack seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts and his tone became more questioning. "McKay, are you sure that this phantom you saw was actually the ghost of this Dr Gall that you mentioned?"

Rodney considered O'Neill's question. "Hmm, actually now that you mentioned it, it couldn't possibly be, could it? I mean it sure looked and sounded like him, and it knew a lot of what had happened about how Brendan Gall died and all. But when I first saw him, I didn't think it could be him, after all, there's no such thing as ghosts is there? But later the _more _he _spoke_, the _more _I felt that it _was _him... I started to try to defend myself, explain to him why his death wasn't my fault... Am I making any _sense _at all?" he asked.

O'Neill nodded. "Almost like the longer he was with you, the more guilty you felt for his death? The more irrational you became?"

"Yes! That's exactly it!" Rodney exclaimed with a snap of his fingers and pointed a finger at Jack. "I guess I was lucky that he disappeared as soon as he shot that first shot." He paused as he considered something else. "Hmm, you know what I said earlier? About preferring to be asleep rather than awake when the ghost appeared? Well, actually I take that back. I think the shock would have been worse if I had been having a nightmare about Gall, and then awakened to find him standing there looking all ghostly and all," he shuddered at the thought. "Hmm, I wonder whether if that's what happened to Sheppard. The Colonel had mentioned to me that he was feeling rather tired and was going to turn in early. Do you think he might have been having nightmares as well?"

At this hearing this, Teyla interjected. "At our last stick fighting session yesterday afternoon, I noticed that Colonel Sheppard hadn't been in his usual top form either. He seemed... distracted somewhat. When I asked if anything was the matter, he mentioned that he hadn't been sleeping well lately. He also stated that he was having bad dreams, but did not want to talk about it further. Yet, I sensed that he was disturbed by these dreams."

"Are you saying that if John was dreaming when he was awakened by whatever it was, it could have affected him more?" Weir asked, not liking what she was hearing.

"Well, he wouldn't be fully awake yet, would he? However, it's all conjecture at the moment, Elizabeth. We wouldn't know the full story until we speak to the Colonel himself," Rodney replied.

"I wonder who he saw," Jack said softly almost to himself, the distant, sad look was back in his features again.

"Are you all right, General?" Weir asked. The man seemed depressed for want of a better term. She knew that O'Neill didn't want to talk about what had happened with him, but as head of the Atlantis expedition, she had to get to the bottom of this, so she had to ask. "And what about you, Jack? What happened to you?"

Jack looked up at her with unreadable brown eyes and gave her a wry smile. "Let's just say that my experience was quite similar to McKay's, but I wasn't shot at. Something was thrown at me and when I caught it, it burned my hand."

At this stage, the nurse who was attending to Jack's hand said, "There you are sir, all done. Your hand has second degree burns, General. Any hotter and it could have been worse. As it is, according to the doctor, we've got to watch it so that it doesn't get infected."

"Great, first night in Atlantis and already I'm in the infirmary. That's one for the record books." Jack murmured clearly annoyed.

Weir gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, General, normally the city is more peacef..." She was interrupted as Major Lorne came stumbling into the infirmary. One hand was firmly clasped on his heavily bleeding forehead. He looked dazed and wobbly on his feet.

"Major!" Elizabeth gasped in shock as she helped Lorne to a nearby seat before he collapsed all together. Someone had alerted one of the medical staff for assistance. An assistant doctor by the name of Robinson came quickly to the scene, leading Lorne off to one of the nearby infirmary beds as she attended to the major's wound. Once she was done, she took out a flashlight pen and began shinning it into Lorne's eyes, eliciting a painful groan from the Major. She asked him a couple of questions to which the Major answered yes or no. When she finally finished her examination, she turned towards Lorne and said, "Okay, it's likely that you're suffering from a concussion, we'll have to do some more tests, but you'll have to stay overnight at the infirmary. Looks like Colonel Sheppard is going to have company tonight."

"Great," Lorne replied not at all happy with the news, his hand touching the white bandage that was wrapped around his head. Dr. Robinson gave him a sympathetic smile and patted him gently on the upper arm before leaving. "I'll get one of the nurses to get you changed into scrubs."

"'Kay doc," Lorne replied, closing his eyes as he leaned his bandaged head back gently onto the pillow.

As Dr. Robinson turned to go, Elizabeth asked in concern, "Is Major Lorne going to be all right?"

Dr. Robinson looked at her and said with a smile. "Yes, I think so. But with all head injuries, it's best if we keep an eye on it as a precautionary measure."

"Can I speak to him?" Elizabeth asked.

Dr. Robinson looked at her patient and nodded, "If he's feeling up to it, I don't see why not."

From the nearby bed, Lorne replied, "I can talk, ma'am."

Elizabeth gave the doctor a nod of thanks before she headed towards where Lorne was lying. She noticed that he looked pale and he didn't seem to be able to focus very well. She frowned slightly in concern. "How are you feeling, Major?"

"Like there are a hundred jackhammers in my head," he replied.

Weir smiled. "Can you tell us what happened?" Teyla and Ronon both approached closer to listen in on the conversation. Jack and McKay remained where they were as they were close enough to hear what was going on without having to move.

Major Lorne opened glazed eyes and looked up at Elizabeth. His expression was one that Elizabeth had encountered with other Atlantean personnel injured that night; a mixture between shock and disbelief. "Actually, let me guess, Major. You were attacked by the ghost of someone whom you knew," Elizabeth stated matter of factly.

Lorne gave her a surprised look. He then turned his gaze towards the others, noting O'Neill's bandaged hand and Rodney's bandaged ear.

"I take it that others have experienced it too?" he asked, when he saw the nods, he explained. "Actually, it was my kid sister who died several years ago."

"Oh, why am I _not _surprised," Rodney stated in a loud annoyed voice. "Did Halloween come early or something? Is there some cosmic power playing a joke on us? Cos the last time I checked, the dead remained the dead, and we were _not_ in some B-grade horror Friday the 13th meets Count Dracula movie! Let's see, who should we call? Ghostbusters? Will someone tell me what the heck is going on here?"

"My sentiments exactly," Lorne replied glumly. "So I take it all of you experienced something similar? I mean attacked by ghosts of your loved ones?"

McKay huffed, "I wouldn't say, loved ones!" Elizabeth noticed that O'Neill didn't deny that fact, so whoever who had attacked him was clearly someone close. It fitted with the question that he had asked Rodney earlier. She took a look at the closed door leading to the OR, and wondered about the ghost that had attacked Sheppard, wondering who it had been.

"Not all of us," Ronon replied as he folded his hands across his chest and stared at Lorne.

"Yes," Teyla replied, "I have not experienced any of these 'ghosts' either.

"Actually, neither have I," Elizabeth mentioned with a puzzled frown. "From the reports I've received only a number personnel have reported the sightings of ghostly encounters not everybody, and not in every part of the city either."

This information peaked Rodney's curiosity. "Do you have the names of those who encountered it?" he asked.

"I should get a full report by the morning," Weir replied. "Do you think there's a pattern to all of this, Rodney?"

"Hmm, I have my suspicions but I want to wait for that report first," Rodney replied. "Actually, I should get back to my lab, there should be some equipment there that would be able to pick EMF readings. It should hopefully be able to tell us more about these mysterious ghosts or whatever they are."

Weir smiled. "I've already got Zelenka working on it."

Rodney looked up a little surprised. "You have?" he asked.

"Only because I heard that you were in the infirmary, Rodney, otherwise I would have asked you first," she said hurriedly to appease the Chief Science Officer's ruffled feathers.

"Oh," Rodney replied, looking less disturbed now, her tactics obviously working.

"I told him to report with his findings to you as I'm sure you would want to be the first to know, then the two of you can keep me appraised of the situation as soon as there's anything important to report." Elizabeth said with a gentle smile.

"Er... yes, of course," McKay replied clearly pleased now to know that he still had his underling reporting directly to him.

oOo

From where he was, Jack O'Neill observed Weir's diplomatic handling of McKay with admiration. He could see why Weir was chosen to be the Head of the Atlantis expedition; she had a way with people and was an ace with diplomacy. She could deal with the most difficult of her staff, such as egocentric Rodney McKay, and still get him producing top results. If it were up to Jack, he would have probably told McKay to stop whining, yelled at the guy, and it would have sent McKay sulking off to lick his wounds, which wouldn't have done any good. After all, SGC had already sent the astrophysicist to Siberia for crying out loud. Yet, in Atlantis, McKay had really thrived. Jack had read the reports of how the astrophysicist had saved Atlantis on several occasions. Quite amazing to think that he was the same man whom he knew at SGC. Yet, despite this, Jack still didn't really like the guy, he found the guy was too arrogant for his own good.

Jack's thoughts went back to the problem at hand. "Major Lorne, do you recall the time when you encountered the ghost?"

Lorne looked up at the General. "Probably around twelve midnight," he replied.

"Whoa!" Rodney piped up, "That's about the same time when Gall appeared too, I remembered cos I had just looked at my watch before he appeared."

"Looks like we have a pattern going on here," Jack noted. "So, how come you took so long to get here?" he asked the Major.

Lorne looked a little embarrassed. "When I got hit in the head, I passed out. By the time I came to, some time must have passed."

The explanation made sense and Jack had no more questions for him.

"Hmm, well, I do have a fondness to solving mysteries," Rodney piped up. He wished he had his tablet with him now and the names of all those who had ghostly encounters so that he could do some analysis.

oOo

It took two more hours before Carson came out from the operating theater, looking tired and worn out. Immediately those waiting for news on Sheppard's condition converged towards him.

"How's John?" Elizabeth asked worriedly,

Carson looked up at her and O'Neill and then at the rest of Sheppard's team. "Well, it was a little dicey for a while there, but the good news is, Colonel Sheppard survived the operation."

At his words, everyone seemed to breath a sigh of relief. However, Carson still looked a little grim as he continued to speak.

"Colonel Sheppard must have the luck of an Irish. If General O'Neill and Ronon hadn't found him when they did, I very much doubt that the Colonel would be with us right now. Whatever it was that struck him had hit an artery, and as soon as it had been removed, he started to bleed out. He would have bled to death fairly quickly. As it was, we had to give him several pints of blood to replace that which he lost. He also gave us a close scare or two at the operating table, but we managed to get his vitals stabilized." Beckett then turned towards Jack and Ronon said, "That was some mighty fine first aid that the two you performed there. If it weren't for your quick thinking, I don't even think that the Colonel would have made it to the operating table. I can't bloody believe it! Sheppard gets into trouble in his own quarters for heavens sake! Out of all places he could have been injured, that was the last place I'd imagine finding him in such a state. It almost gave me a bloody heart attack, seeing him in that condition when we arrived."

"So, will Sheppard be OK?" Rodney asked.

"Aye, that he will, Rodney. He'll be sore and weak, and in a lot of pain. He also won't be able to move his arm and shoulder much, and will need some intensive physiotherapy, but he should heal in time." Carson replied. The relief from the group was palpable at the good news. "He'll be in ICU for a wee while, just so that we can keep an eye on him to ensure that there are no further complications. We should be able to move him back to a regular bed in the infirmary in an hour or so." Beckett added. "In the meantime, I recommend that all of you get some rest, except for you Major Lorne, I understand from Dr. Robinson that you'll be with us for the night so that we can keep an eye on that concussion of yours."

Lorne didn't look happy about the prospect but his nodded glumly, then winced as if the movement caused him to feel nauseous.

"Okay lad." Carson turned back towards everyone else. "Well, it's been a long night. You should be able see Colonel Sheppard in the morning or afternoon, depending how he feels. I'll let you know when he's ready for visitors."

"Thank you Carson," Elizabeth said with a smile, clearly relieved at the news. "Well, you heard what Dr. Beckett said, I'm ordering every one to who doesn't need to be here to retire for the night."

"Shouldn't we be working to try to solve what's going on here?" Rodney spoke up. "After all, there could be more attacks happening as we speak."

Weir considered this. "So far I haven't heard any more reports of disturbances, they all seemed to have occurred around twelve midnight, for some odd reason. Besides, we all need clear heads to be able to work on this. It's almost three in the morning, all of us are tired, a little bit of rest wouldn't do us any harm."

Rodney crossed his arms together and said stubbornly. "Well, I'm staying here, after all I'm wounded!" he pointed to his bandaged ear.

Carson looked at McKay a little exasperated. "Rodney, I would hardly count that as a serious wound, maybe a wee cut, but that's about all."

"Hey, hey, hey! What about this? Notice the bandage, huh? I would hardly say that it wasn't serious!" Rodney replied.

The Atlantis doctor sighed. "If I recall correctly, Rodney, you insisted that the nurse bandaged it up, when all it needed was just some antiseptic and a slap of band-aid."

Rodney frowned, "Oh sure, mock the astrophysicist. What do you know? You're into voodoo science after all. Besides, my ear might get infected and it might drop off if it wasn't bandaged properly, then instead of having one ear shorter than the other, I'll be freaking lobe-less!"

"_Rodney!_" Carson tone was now more than a little annoyed. "For heavens sake man, your ear's not shorter than the other. Sure it received a cut by a flying splinter, but your lobe wasn't amputated or anything, now stop with all the melodramas will ya?"

"Really?" Rodney sounded surprised as he fingered his bandaged ear, then a look of annoyance crossed his features. "Well, why didn't anybody _tell _me that earlier?"

"We _did_, Rodney, you just weren't listening," Carson replied with a roll of his eyes. "If you recall, you refused to calm down until we bandaged up your ear."

Rodney looked like he was ready for another argument as he puffed up his chest and started to say, "Now you look..." only to be cut off by Dr. Weir.

"Okay, settle down boys. I recommend that we leave Dr. Beckett so that he can get on with his work." Elizabeth stated in a calm diplomatic tone.

"Actually before we go, there's something that I want to ask Carson," Rodney interjected.

"Oh, what now, Rodney?" Carson's voice still held a note of annoyance.

"Did you encounter anything strange a little after 12 midnight today?" Rodney asked curiously.

"What kind of bloody question is that? Of course not, if I did, I wouldn't be standing here calmly talking to you now, would I?" Carson replied.

"Hmm," Rodney said, looking a little puzzled, "there goes my theory," he muttered softly to himself.

"Care to enlighten us what's this all about Rodney?" Weir replied.

McKay looked up at her. "Actually, no. Not yet anyway, but I'll still be interesting to see the names of all those affected by ghostly attacks in that report, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth nodded. "Of course. We'll meet in conference room one at 0800 hours to discuss this further and see if we can determine what caused these attacks, and perhaps prevent any further attacks from occurring."

As she turned to walk away, she saw that Teyla, Ronon and Rodney were still reluctant to leave.

"Could we...er, hang around, keep Sheppard company when he gets transferred back here?" Rodney asked Carson hopefully.

Dr Beckett sighed. "Perhaps later, but not tonight Rodney. The Colonel's still unconscious, he wouldn't even know you're here, nor is he going to wake up anytime soon. I think it's best if you all went back to your quarters and got some sleep while you still can."

Sheppard's team nodded and reluctantly, they followed Elizabeth and Jack out of the infirmary. However, before they left for their own quarters, Rodney had one more question. "Do you think they'll attack again?"

Jack looked at Rodney and then the rest of the departing group, his eyes dark. "If you're referring to the ghosts, the one who visited me promised a return. Twelfth midnight is probably when we'll need to be on our guard. By then, let's hope that we have some answers to fight these damn things."

oOo

TBC


	4. Rude Awakenings

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

**4: Rude awakenings**

Dr Carson Beckett sighed, happy at last to have a wee break after the busy and stressful night that he had. He retired to his office, intending to get some rest. He had been standing for several hours operating on Sheppard, then checking up to make sure that every was all right with the Colonel, after having him transfered from ICU to his regular bed back at the infirmary. He also saw to his other patient, Major Lorne, who was also having an overnight stay.

When he finally left the infirmary to go to his nearby office with only a night nurse Polly, in attendance, he knew that he was tired and in desperate need of some rest. He removed his comlink, rubbed his sleepy eyes and yawned loudly. It had been a long and weary night indeed.

He looked at the time, it was just past four thirty in the morning, in a few hours time, it would soon be dawn. A new day. He knew that he needed to get that report ready for Elizabeth before their scheduled morning meeting at 0800 hours. He also needed to check up on Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne again, so setting his watch alarm to wake him in an hour's time, he decided to let his tired body get some much needed sleep. After all, sleep deprivation would not do him nor his patients any good.

He also knew that he would need to get up earlier than normal today, but once all his tasks were completed, he intended catch up on more sleep later in the afternoon. With a sigh, he laid down on the temporary cot that he had set up in his office for times just like this, where he had a lot of work to do, but still needed to get a little shut-eye first. As soon as his head touched the pillow, he fell asleep almost instantly.

oOo

The beeping of the watch alarm awoke Carson with a start. Bleary eyed, he rubbed both hands across his face, yawning several times. Then looking at his watch, he noted that it wasn't dawn yet and headed off to the nearby bathroom. After he had washed his face, he spend a minute or two looking at his tired reflection in the mirror, wondering what the rest of the day would bring and hoping that there wouldn't be new patients in his infirmary later that night.

Releasing a soft sigh, he returned back to his office after taking a short detour to the coffee machine where he got a hot mug of coffee for himself. By the time he reached his office, he had taken a few sips from his mug and was feeling more awake. Sitting down at his desk, he stretched out his arms, rubbed his hands together to get the blood circulation going, before opening his laptop and started to type up the report that Elizabeth wanted. Knowing that it was important, Carson was not one to procrastinate on the task.

He was partway through the report when he heard the sound of a raspy hollow female voice whispering his name. Frowning slightly, he looked up. Color drained from his face and his eyes widened like round saucers as he looked at the person before him in shocked horror.

"Good lord! Perna?" he stammered, attempting to get up from his chair but tripping over and falling down backwards instead. He gave a yelp as the fall hurt his tailbone. "Wha.. What... are ya doing here lass?" he stammered in shock.

The ghostly apparition of the blond haired woman who had died on the planet Hoff opened her lips and smiled maliciously back at him...

oOo

Nurse Polly had just finished checking up on her two patients. Major Lorne was asleep and so was Lt Colonel Sheppard, who currently had his left arm bandaged in a sling. She spent some time checking on Sheppard's vitals and everything seemed fine. She noticed that he still looked a little pale despite being given a blood transfusion to replace the amount that he had lost earlier. Humming a little softly, she noted the results on her tablet, before leaving to get a get a cup of coffee for herself. She was feeling a little tired and she didn't want to fall asleep on the job. It had been a long night. Besides, she also needed to use the bathroom, so she decided to kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

As she passed Dr Beckett's office, she thought she heard voices. Puzzled, she wondered who could be visiting Dr Beckett so early in the morning. As she was just about to walk pass his office, she heard Dr Beckett's voice cry out "_No! Perna! No! That is NOT true!_"

His tone sounded distressed. Frowning slightly with concern, Polly turned towards Carson's office.

"Dr Beckett are you..." Polly froze, her eyes widening, her hand going to her opened mouth. Standing before Dr Beckett was a faired haired apparition of a ghostly woman. She was currently holding a syringe in her hand as if she intended to attack Carson with it. When Carson saw her, he eyes widened in fear for her well being, and he screamed at her. "Get out of here Polly! Go get help lass!"

As she ran out of the office, she heard a ghostly voice speaking to the doctor. "It is your faaault Carson! I'm dead because you creeeaaaated this for my people! Youuuur poisooon that kiiilled me!"

Polly was almost halfway out the door of the infirmary, when she heard another voice call her name. Turning around, her blue eyes widened when she saw the ghostly apparition of her dead fiancée. She opened her mouth and screamed.

oOo

John Sheppard was jolted awake by what he thought was a woman's scream sounding somewhere nearby. At the bed next to his, he also heard the sound of someone struggling. He frowned, confused, his mind felt hazy, as if it was filled with cotton wool. He wondered where he was and what was happening. Then he recalled Colonel Sumner, the spear slamming painfully into him, agonizing pain and bleeding on the floor of his quarters. He remembered Sumner's words and guilt rushed back to claim him like the echoes of a lost dream. He groaned and became more awake, the heart rate monitor that he was attached to instantly registering his increased heart rate.

The screaming continued and Sheppard realized that he was in the infirmary. There was a dull pain in his left shoulder, barely felt. He knew then that he had been given what McKay liked to term the 'good stuff' of Beckett's pain medications. As he tried to move, he became aware that his left arm was immobile, attached to a sling. He also noticed that there was someone struggling to get out of bed next to his. It took him a while to recognize that the person in the shadows was Major Lorne. There was a white bandage around the man's head that stood out like a flag in the midst of the dim infirmary.

"Lorne?" he called out weakly still confused.

"Sheppard?" the shadow beside him stated thickly. "I think Dr Beckett and the night nurse are in trouble!"

That Sheppard had already figured out from all the noise that was going on. The only problem was, making the rest of his body obey the instructions of his mind. He felt woozy and not really with the land of the living yet. He knew that it was the result of whatever drugs that was running through his system. But despite it, already he was trying to get out of bed, pulling out the IV lines and whatever else that was attached to him causing all the machines beside him to scream like crazy.

However, as soon as his feet hit the floor, he staggered and almost fell flat on his face. Before him, the entire room swam like a wave tossed rudderless sail boat. Fighting back a weak groan, he closed his eyes, trying to steady himself and ease the rising nausea. Nearby, it sounded that Lorne was having a bit of trouble of his own standing up. He briefly wondered what had happened to Lorne and what the two of them could do to help, seeing that they could hardly stand themselves.

Yet with the knowledge of Beckett and the nurse in trouble, adrenalin kicked in. Taking a few slow deep breaths, he shook his head rubbing his eyes with his uninjured hand. The haze from his vision cleared slightly, enabling him to stand without falling over. The dull pain in his heavily bandaged shoulder also started to protest more with all the movement.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Lorne freeze and he heard Lorne gasp in shock.

"Oh god..."

Lifting his head to look at the Major, he saw Lorne staring wide eyed at something behind him.

"What?" he asked, his heart rate accelerating. The hairs at the back of his neck started to rise; he sensed an eerie prickly sensation of something evil behind him. The sense of danger increased to the point of jangling alarms. He knew then without being told, who had just made another appearance.

"He's behind me, isn't he?" he intoned softly, not moving or batting an eyelid as he stared at Lorne's shocked features. He saw Lorne give a slow nod of confirmation.

"_Sheppaaaard... you're all miiineeee!" _The all too eerie and familiar ghostly voice finally spoke up behind him, sounding too close for comfort.

Turning around ever so slowly, John saw the ghostly phantom of Colonel Marshall Sumner, standing there, grinning down ghastly at him. In his hand glistered a large evil looking knife held upright ready to strike out at him. With a sinking heart, he knew that he wouldn't be able to help Carson or the nurse out, because at that moment he had problems of his own.

oOo

Dr Carson Beckett scrambled back to his feet, barely avoiding the syringe that ghost of Perna was trying to stick into him. He could hear his nurse Polly, screaming outside his office but with phantom Perna blocking the way, he couldn't do anything to help the young nurse.

"Who are you? Why are ya doing this, lass?" he cried out, clearly still disbelieving that this was his gentle beloved Perna who had died in his arms on the planet Hoff.

"Yooouuu!" She shrieked at him, "It's all yooouuur fauuultt I'm heeerre! Youuuur fault that I'm deeeeaad!"

"I... I don't understand," he stammered. "I tried to _save _you, lass, I tried to warn you and your people that it was too early to give the inoculation to your population... that... that more tests were needed!"

Yet, even as he spoke those words, he felt the guilt of his action bombard him, threatening to sink him into the waves of despair. He was a doctor, a man of healing, instead his research in Hoff had resulted in the deaths of so many; among them Perna, the woman whom he was starting to development feelings for.

Perna threw her head back and began laughing hysterically; it didn't make Carson feel any better to hear the sound of it. In fact, it was making him feel extremely nervous.

From the infirmary, he thought he heard the sounds of monitors screaming in alarm. Good lord! That could only be Colonel Sheppard and from the sounds of it, it wasn't good! His patients needed him, but here he was, his path blocked by the ghost of a dead woman who was trying to stick a syringe into him. And somehow, he felt that whatever was in that syringe, would also be the death of him.

oOo

In his lab, Dr Radek Zelenka was dozing, his head laying down on top of folded arms with a computer monitor in front of him at his desk. The EMF device that he had rigged up and placed on the table nearby, which was also attached to his tablet, suddenly began beeping loudly. It startled the Czech scientist out of his slumber.

For most of the night, after the initial reports of ghostly attacks had come in, it had remained silent, showing no sign of any ghostly activity. Opening sleepy eyes, with a mouth slightly ajar that had a trail of drool forming a line down his cheek, Radek blinked several times before positioning back his steel framed glasses (that had gone astray, almost half falling off his face) onto his nose again. Then he lifted his head and looked up to see what all the noise was about.

Leaving his seat, he went to look at the screen of the EMF device. Blinking several times and rubbing tired eyes, he stared harder at the screen, taking in the information that the EMF device displayed. His frown deepened and his eyes widened, sleep all lost, as he began typing onto his tablet that he had hooked up to the EMF device. What the readings showed him made him blanch and he said softly to himself, "Oh my god."

Picking up his comlink, he attached it to his ear, switched it on and said "Security, please go to infirmary and Dr Beckett's office immediately, I think there's trouble there."

With those words, he picked up the device and his tablet, and headed out at a run, while adjusting his comlink to other channels. There were other calls that he had to also make.

oOo

Jack O'Neill didn't return to his guest quarters straight away. After leaving the infirmary he made his way to the East Pier; Colonel Sheppard had showed it to him the afternoon before, describing it as his favorite hang-out spot. The pilot had told him that this was where he liked to come to sort out his thoughts whenever he needed some peace and quiet. After what had happened, Jack felt that he needed that at the moment.

He didn't know how long he had been standing there, maybe a few hours, maybe a few minutes, he couldn't tell; he had lost the track of time: his thoughts had been preoccupied on a boy who lay buried at a small US town back home on Earth. His encounter with the phantom Charlie had dredged up dark memories and emotions that he hadn't felt for a long time. The wound no longer felt so raw, but the familiar bitter pain was still there of what could have been if things had worked out differently and Charlie had lived. God, he had loved his son more than life itself, and even now, after all these years, he could still feel the familiar ache in his heart at the loss of the child who never had an opportunity to grow up.

As he leaned against the balcony, gazing at the dark seascape before him, he felt a soft gentle breeze caress his face; a solitary tear formed and dropped onto the sea far below. A moment later, he sensed the eerie presence behind him, and he knew, without having to turn around that the ghost of Charlie was back.

oOo

After what had happened earlier, Dr Rodney McKay didn't really feel like returning to his lab, nor having to deal with Zelenka's questions if he visited the Czech scientist in his lab. He was still too on edge, so he decided to return to his quarters, have a shower, then fill himself up with a pre-dawn snack. Later, he hoped to get a little shut eye before touching base with Zelenka to see how his minion was progressing with rigging up an EMF device.

He managed to get his shower and raid some emergency snack rations that he had stashed in his living quarters, which he brought to his bed. He was currently sitting up in bed, a blanket up to his waist, munching on a blueberry cupcake after having finished a power bar and an apricot cupcake, when his eyelids grew heavy and slid close. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep, his mouth half ajar with the contents of a partially chewed blueberry still in it. The other remaining half of the cupcake tumbled from his limp hand to fall onto his crumpled blanket amidst Rodney's gentle snores.

It was still dark, in the early hours of the morning when Rodney was jarred awake to hear the sound of the toilet flushing in his bathroom. The remnants of a nightmare where he had the ghost of Brendan Gall chasing him all over Atlantis still echoed in his mind. Blinking blearily, he lifted a sleepy head, wondering what had awaken him when he realized that it was the sound of the toilet filling itself up just after it had been flushed. The lights in his bathroom was now blinking off and on erratically as if someone was playing with the switch. He sat up suddenly more awake, looking anxiously at the doorway of his bathroom then at his watch as his heart started to pound slightly faster.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" he called out a little nervously, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "This isn't funny you know..." There was no answer. All was quiet except for the sounds in his bathroom. He wondered whether someone was playing a joke on him and had sneaked into his quarters while he was dozing. If Sheppard wasn't in the infirmary, Rodney would have suspected the pilot playing a practical joke on him.

Taking a loud gulp, Rodney slowly got out from bed, looking around at the rest of his quarters. He remembered his 9mm that Sheppard had insisted that he kept in his room, and he went to retrieve it. Making sure that the safety was off, he slowly walked towards the bathroom. After what had happened in his lab earlier, he wasn't taking any chances.

"Hello? I know you're in there..." he called out nervously again. He wondered whether he should call Security, they would be able to flush out the intruder. However, if it turned out to be nothing more than a practical joke being played by Zelenka or by some one else, he would be the laughing stock of the scientific community, and Rodney valued his pride. Being something of a social recluse, Rodney understood that sometimes people could be cruel, pick on the brilliant scientist, think that the prank was funny when it wasn't.

So taking a deep breath, he tip-toed to his bathroom and opened the door partially. He wondered why the Ancients had not built automatic swishing doors to bathrooms but only to the main room of quarters or meeting rooms. Looking in, he saw that the bathroom was in fact empty. His frown deepened, he wondered how the toilet could have flushed by itself. It made him nervous. There was a sudden sound by the sink, and Rodney gave a high girlish shriek. His side arm went off to shoot at the first movement that he saw. He missed his target by a wide margin as the large white mouse squeaked and scurried off to run under the door of his quarters.

"Oh, it's... just a mouse," he gasped, breathing out a relieved breath, wiping his perspiration covered face with a shaky arm. He lowered his gun, entered the bathroom and closed the door, intending to use the toilet facilities himself. All the tension was making him nervous and it was affecting his bladder. However, as soon as he closed the door, standing behind it was the ghost of Brendan Gall, his visage frightening pale as he grinned up at him, a gun aimed point blank at him.

oOo

TBC

_AN: Looks like all the lads are in trouble... mwhahahahaha!_ _Now you know, Carson didn't escape... Question is, why now?_


	5. Ghostly Encounters

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: angw guessed correctly that Carson would encounter Perna, well done! I had already written that scene in the last chap and it made me chuckle when it was noted. Also, it was mentioned that Elizabeth would have a lot of deaths on her conscience being an expedition leader, and while I would truly have loved to add her into it, it didn't suit with the plot, drats! (Though, I was sorely tempted to change the plot...lol!). Thanks to ESCotLoE for the beta._

**5: Ghostly encounters**

Sheppard's eyes widened and his body froze as he saw the knife bearing down on his chest. Carson's happy drugs had made his reactions sluggish, unresponsive, not at all of how he would normally behave in the face of danger. Another part of his mind also noted that the temperature in the infirmary had dropped dramatically, making it extremely cold. Then Lorne was suddenly there in front of him, pushing him out of harm's way. Yet, in doing so, the Major had placed himself as the target of the knife's deadly path.

The fog in John's brain seemed to dissipate when he realized what Lorne had done to save his life.

"Major MOVE!" he cried out, but it was too late and to his wide eyed horror, he saw the knife sink into Lorne's back... Only to slip harmlessly through the startled Major's body like misted fog, and to slice at John's out stretched forearm as he tried to grab Lorne from out of the weapon's deadly path. Although the cut was deep, Sheppard barely felt it as he was still high on pain medications.

oOo

Lorne shuddered in shock as the ghostly arm and knife sank and removed itself from his body, but left no wound on him.

"What the hell?!" Lorne stammered wide eyed, feeling a rippling source of iciness as the ghostly weapon passed harmlessly through his body.

_What the heck's going on here? The ghost seemed only capable of hurting Sheppard and no one else! _Lorne silently wondered. Not that the stunned Major was complaining about it, because all logic dictated that he should have been dead right about now. But before he could consider the matter further or gather his wits about him, he heard a hauntingly familiar voice call his name.

Turning around, with a rapidly increasing heartbeat and goosebumps rising on his skin, Lorne staggered backwards, bumping into Sheppard hearing his CO grunt slightly, as he once again stared into the accusing eyes of his long dead kid sister, Elysina Lorne. She was holding several pieces of shattered glass in her hand. They looked sharp and dangerous.

"Yoooouuur faaault that I'm heeereee! Yoouuu left me aaaall alone!" accused Elysina in her high pitched, childish ghostly voice. Lorne couldn't pry his gaze away from the apparition of his dead sister, his mind felt dazed and in shock. He heard Sheppard say something to him, but the words meant nothing as waves of guilt started to rain down on him. His vision became fuzzy and his head started to pound painfully in his chest with the beat of his racing heart. He felt someone grab him, pushing him along, and all he could do was to numbly go where he was directed. The dark words of the ghostly apparition echoed in his mind _"You left me all alone!"_.

His sister had passed away approximately three and a half years ago, a victim of a drowning accident. Lorne had been stationed on SGC at the time, and he had been on leave, and had taken his kid sister and some of her friends for an outing to the beach. While the girls were out swimming, Lorne had been temporarily distracted when a toddler, approximately two years old, started to chock on something that he ate. The child was practically turning blue when the young mother sitting beside her son started to panic, screaming for help. Knowing the Heimlich maneuver, Lorne instantly went to the young child's aid. However, during that time, unbeknown to him, his sister had disobeyed his advice and swam further out to sea, getting herself was caught by a strong undercurrent. By the time he had realized that his sister was in trouble, it was too late: the girl had drowned. Lorne had never really forgiven himself for his sister's death. Now, once again, all he could do was stare at her in frozen shock.

oOo

"Yoooouuu caaaannnooot escape meeee!" Perna shrieked at Dr. Carson Beckett. "Yooouuu will paaaay for what yooooou have done! Yoooouur death is mine!"

"No! Perna!" Carson cried back, his tailbone still pulsating with pain from the fall off his chair earlier. The waves of guilt pounded into him, after all he knew that it _was _his fault that so many had died on Hoff. If he hadn't helped Perna progress with the research, things would have turned out differently and thousands would still be alive, among them, his beloved Perna. But his mind knew that he couldn't afford to wallow in guilt, not now, not when his other patients' lives were at risk. He needed to get to the infirmary, to see what the hell was causing the machines to scream so loudly. Dear Lord, it sounded like a flat line! Colonel Sheppard couldn't be dead! Not after all the trouble he went through the night before to save the Colonel's life!

Outside, he also heard shouting and screaming, his young nurse was obviously still holding her own from whatever phantom that was attacking her. _What the bloody hell was happening here?!_ Carson wondered in frustration. He knew that he had to try to make his way out of his office and into the infirmary. Every moment he was here, his patients lives were in danger. Somehow, he had to find a way to get away from this ghostly apparition of Perna. He had to get away from the pounding waves of guilt that was trying to sink him into the sea of depression. So far, he had been fortunate enough to stay away from the deadly syringe that she held in her hand.

As he looked for a way out, he thought that he had been lucky that she wasn't throwing things at him, now that would have been more difficult to avoid. However, as soon as that thought formed, Carson saw Perna's face change from anger into a considering gloat. She turned dark hateful eyes at Carson, gave the Chief Medical Officer a knowing smile before throwing her head back and breaking into a high pitched witch-like laugh.

"Heee heee heee! Aaaah... Soooometiiimees yooouuu make things soooo easy fooor me, Carson Beckett! Very weeell, peeerhaaaps, you prefer this?!" With those foreboding words, much to Carson's horror he saw a thick large yellow brick morph in Perna's ghostly hand.

"Mmmmy gift toooo you!" She shrieked throwing the brick aimed at Beckett's head.

Carson's eyes widened.

"Bloody hell!" he cried as he made a mad dash under his desk, barely missing the solid brick as it shattered on the wall behind him. His heart was pounding so hard now that he could hear the sound of blood rushing through his ears. How the hell was he going to escape this? he wondered frantically. Good lord, never in his wildest dreams did he expect a ghost to be trying to kill him.

Cowering under his desk, Carson frantically tried to think what to do. Surely, this couldn't be the real ghost of Perna, Carson tried to tell himself. After all, he still recalled the words he had said to her and her last words to him.

"_Perna I'm so sorry..._" Carson whispered the same words he had whispered so long ago on the planet Hoff as he held the hand of the dying woman. The guilt was back, and it assailed him making him feel such sadness and despair.

_"Don't be. I am at peace with what I have done, as you should be."_ The lovely Perna had replied some two years ago.

_"I wish I'd had no part in this." _Carson had said then, his heart bleeding in guilt, sorrow and regret over what he had done.

_"You gave us hope. For... years, our people have been working... towards this... very moment. We didn't betray the forefathers. We have fulfilled their destiny, their promise." _Sweet, beautiful, gentle Perna had replied.

_"Aye." _He did not know what else to say.

_"Stay. Stay. I want you to stay with me," _were Perna's last words to him. He felt wetness in his eyes, for a brief moment lost in the memory of Perna, the woman whom he had been besotted with.

Opening his eyes he suddenly he saw that same lovely face glaring maliciously at him from under the table. However, it wasn't so lovely any more because it was way too pale and ghastly looking, and there was a coldness in the ghostly Perna's eyes that was never in the living Perna whom he remembered.

_"Boo!" _she shrieked at him, startling Beckett out from his reverie as she once again broke into an evil laugh.

"Yeeees! Stay! Staaaay, I waaaanted you to staaaay with meeee in death!" she screamed, bringing an ugliness to the memory of Perna's last words, her hands groping towards Carson, trying to catch one of his limbs.

Carson gave a yelp, scrambling quickly out from under the table. He saw a clear path of exit to the door. With a racing heart, he decided to make a dash for it, it was his only chance! Once outside, he would stand a better chance, have more leeway and places to run and hide from that ghostly apparition of Perna.

Carson hurriedly got back to his feet and ran towards the door. For a wild, crazy moment, Beckett thought that he would make it, but just as he reached the door, he felt exploding pain as a solid brick smashed into his leg from behind. With a scream, Carson found himself falling. There was the sound of a horrible crack as his knee twisted under him, slamming him hard on the floor.

oOo

Without turning around, Jack O'Neill continued to stare at the sea.

"You are not my son, you know that, don't you?" he said quietly to the apparition that was standing behind him. "Charlie would have never done what you did."

There was a paused silence behind him as if whatever it was that took on the likeness of his dead son was listening or considering what he had just said. It was a good sign, thought O'Neill. He turned then, to gaze into the soulless eyes of the phantom child that was a splitting image of Charlie. God, he didn't realize how much he had missed seeing that young face whom he loved so much. How much he had forgotten...

"Why are you here? What do you want from us?" he asked the questions. In Charlie's hand, Jack noticed that the boy was holding the baseball again.

The ghost boy stared at him. "I ammmm heeerrree because of yoooouuuu, Dad! Your fault! Aaaaallll your fault!" the ghostly phantom screamed.

Taking a deep breath, he steeled his resolve to ignore the hurtful words. He knew that this wasn't Charlie. Despite the waves of guilt that was growing within him, demanding his attention, demanding that he let himself fall into the dark depression of despair, the more he looked at the ghostly child, the more he was sure that this boy was not his son. Jack O'Neill had a long time to come to terms with the accidental death of his son. He had made peace with himself, at least as much peace as he could in accepting the fact that he could not change the past, and that his son's death was an accident that he could not do anything about. He had laid the ghost of his son to rest a long time ago.

"I loved Charlie with all my heart. I would have given my life for his," Jack O'Neill said to the apparition of his dead son. "But you are _not _him, you are _not_ my son, and you will _never _be him. My son doesn't blame me, I learnt that a long time ago from a crystal blue alien entity that once took the form of my son. That alien Charlie taught me to recognize that my son lives in me now, in my memories of him, in my love of him. As long as Sara and I live, our son lives in us. Whatever you are... you are _not _him."

Still starring at O'Neill with a furious glare, the ghostly child slowly began to lower the baseball that he was holding. He seemed to be listening to what Jack was saying.

"I _did _blame myself, for a long time..." Jack continued softly, closing his eyes for a moment as the memory of that time washed over him. Somehow, he wasn't afraid or angry anymore, but felt a slow growing regret. He opened his eyes to see the apparition's face hardening slightly, raising the baseball again. However, it paused when Jack started to speak again, turning his thoughts back again to the matter at hand.

"It took many years, but over time, I learned to forgive myself. I now know that while it was my fault to keep a loaded gun unlocked in my room, I couldn't blame myself forever. And most important of all, Charlie would _not _have wanted me to," he stated quietly.

"At some stage in our lives, we must learn to forgive ourselves, especially if we did a mistake unintentionally with no design to harm others. It took me years to learn that lesson." O'Neill said. "If you are truly my son, Charlie, then I know that you wouldn't be able to hurt me, because love is stronger than anything else, and I loved Charlie more than life itself."

The blond haired boy stared at him eerily for a moment, his eyes wide and luminous. Then with a haunting forlorn cry, the apparition wavered and melted in front of him, like it had never been. Jack stood for a while staring into empty air, feeling the haunting waves of guilt lift off from his shoulders.

"I love you Charlie... I miss you..." Jack O'Neill whispered softly to himself, feeling only sadness. Then the radio of his headset crackled to life.

oOo

With his adrenaline kicking in, Sheppard was lucid enough to try to ignore the fogginess caused by the pain medications and concentrate on the danger at hand, both for himself and Major Lorne.

_"Sheeeepppaaard! Yoooou are mineeee! Yoooouur death iiiiiisss mine!"_ He barely avoided another lunge of the ghostly weapon from Sumner and was quickly tiring; he wondered how long he would be able to keep this up. Adrenalin could only take him so far, if help didn't come soon, he knew that he would eventually make a slip, and when he did, the ghostly apparition of Sumner would send him off to meet his maker. Yet, despite this, from the corner of his eye, he saw Lorne standing still, almost catatonic, as the young Major continued to stare at the apparition of a young pale looking girl with accusing eyes. He didn't hear the words that the girl had said to Lorne as he had been too busy concentrating on Sumner.

"Dammit Lorne! _Snap out of it!_" Sheppard cried as he pushed Lorne out of the path of Sumner's descending knife. Even though he knew that Sumner's knife didn't seemed able to hurt the Major, he wasn't about to take any unnecessary chances.

He detected more movement at the edge of his vision. Twisting around, he saw the ghostly child scream accusations at Lorne as her hand moved backwards and she flung sharp splintered glass at the Major. Cursing softly, Sheppard used the momentum of his body to push Lorne and himself away from the path of the deadly glass. He was not fast enough and one of the sharp pieces of glass flashed though John's back, hitting him from behind and exiting from his chest. However, except for a shuddering, icy sensation passing through him, the sharp glass splinter did not seem to harm him. Taking a deep breath of relief, he noted that the weapons wielded by the ghostly child couldn't harm him as the knife wielded by ghostly Sumner couldn't harm Lorne.

A piece of flying glass had struck the side of Lorne's cheek, slashing flesh as blood started to well from the skin and began to bleed. Sheppard winced, knowing that the cut would sting. He didn't like thinking about his own wounded forearm which was also bleeding profusely, not to mention that the dull ache of his thickly bandaged shoulder was starting to protest even further to all the movement. Lorne however didn't seem aware of his injured cheek; he appeared to be in a state of shock as he turned a haunted gaze to stare back at the apparition of his dead sister. Sheppard knew that he had to try to break the hypnotic stupor that the man seemed to be in.

"_Lorne! She's NOT really your sister!_" Sheppard cried out, shaking the man hard at the shoulder, trying to get him to meet eye contact. Whether it was true or not, John didn't really care, all he knew was that he had to get Lorne back to his senses. He didn't know whether it was his words or the pain of the cut on the Major's face that seemed to bring awareness back into Lorne's shocked and dazed eyes. What mattered most was for the both of them to get out of this situation alive.

"What...?" Lorne finally muttered, shaking his head slightly as if awakening from a dream. He turned his gaze towards Sheppard, however John noticed that the Major's eyes seemed slightly unfocused. Sheppard recognized the look: Lorne was suffering from a concussion; that would explain the glassy eyed look and why he was in the infirmary. Dammit! Where was reinforcements when you needed it?

There was another ghostly shriek and his attention turned from Lorne to see the ghost of Sumner lunging closer towards them again. The glare of his former CO was ferocious and accusing.

"Yooouuu cannot essscape me Sheppard! Yoooouuur fault thaaaat I'm deeaaad! I am heeeerreee because of yooooouuuu! Yooooouuuu are mine!"

The ghostly words seemed to incite the weight of overpowering guilt that seemed to descend upon him. _No! _he tried to tell himself. _No! That is not true! _Sheppard shook his head, knowing that he had to try to fight the waves of guilt that seemed to be assailing him, as if seeking a way into his very soul. For a moment, his mind noted that he shouldn't be feeling this way, that it seemed almost unnatural that he should be feeling so much guilt and be burdened by a sense of despair over his commanding officer's death. Not after all this time, not after almost two and a half years of having to deal with it.

Yet it was only a moment's clarity, and it soon disappeared under the fog of wanting in some way to make amends for the mistakes of his past. The guilt within him seemed stronger now, almost double from what he had experienced in the first attack. A coldness seemed to pervade within him. A thought formed in his mind: _You deserve it, John. You deserve to die under Sumner's hand. It is only right to pay the price for what you've done. You caused his death... Stand still and accept your fate..._

That thought seemed to freeze him like a vice and he suddenly felt extremely weary and lethargic. It almost seemed justified for the apparition of Sumner to kill him now. He stopped running, he stopped trying to get away from Sumner. He stood still facing the ghostly apparition that approached him and waited for his death...

oOo

"Hellooooo Rodney..." Gall greeted in his eerie ghostly voice, the gun pointing at McKay's face. The room temperature he noticed had dropped dramatically.

"Oh CRAP!" Rodney cried out, blanching in alarm as his hand reached for the door, pulling it open. Somehow he managed to make it out of the bathroom without Gall discarding the gun, but already he could feel the waves of guilt leaching on onto him. He tried to ignore it as he made a beeline as fast as his legs could carry him towards the exit door of his quarters. In the midst of it, his comlink buzzed with a call from Radek, telling him that there were EMF readings appearing in the infirmary and many other places in Atlantis.

"No shit!" Rodney screamed into his radio, "I have Brendan's ghost trying to _kill _me right now!"

As he ran, he flung his 9mm backwards and started shooting at the ghost of Gall. _It isn't him! It isn't him! It isn't him! _His mind rattled on to himself as he recalled the conversation he had with O'Neill earlier. The longer he was in the vicinity of that phantom, the more he would be bombarded by feelings of guilt. And O'Neill had also mentioned that he had doubts that Gall was truly the ghost of Gall! But it damn well sure looked and sounded like him! He could feel himself panicking as his left hand whipped up to change the frequency of his comlink before screaming into it.

"This is Dr. Rodney McKay! I need help in my quarters _immediately!_"

Behind him, he heard the ghost scream at him. "I'm heeeere because of you! Yoooouuu can't escape from me... Rooodneeey! I'm goooonnnaaa get you!"

There was a loud explosion of the gun going off. The sound almost deafening him so close did it sound by his ear. A heartbeat later he felt the sting of a bullet grazing and burning his other ear.

"Aargh!" Rodney cried again, his ears ringing, his left ear now burning with pain as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, not really watching where he was going, only knowing that he was still heading towards the exit.

"My ear's been shot off!" he cried out in panic. He stopped shooting backwards when he ran out of bullets. At the same time he realized that the room was suddenly silent again; he didn't hear Gall's ghostly voice shouting behind him. Taking a quick glance behind him, he noticed that there was no more ghostly apparition chasing him. He breathed a sigh of relief, taking great gulps of air from exerted lungs.

"Oh thank God," he stammered nervously. He remembered how after his first injury from his previous encounter with phantom Gall, the ghost had also vanished almost immediately after it took its first shot. Perhaps it needed blood or injury from the victim for it to vanish each time, he theorized, trying to get his heart to stop pounding so hard.

He suddenly recalled what Zelenka had been saying about ghosts appearing in the infirmary.

"Sheppard!" he muttered in concern, turning around to head back towards the exit door and slammed directly into the fist of the ghost of Brendan Gall as it materialized in front of him to punch him in the face. The was a loud "Ooof!" and a crack as shattering pain exploded, making Rodney see stars. Then the bitter wave of darkness rose up to enfold him and he knew nothing more.

oOo

TBC

_AN: Oops! Did I just do that? Two cliffies in a row? (Blinks innocently). But at least Jack's cliffy was resolved and there were whumps all round for all our lads. I shall try to resolve all these chiffies in the next chap. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to review._

_P.S: The alien blue entity mentioned by Jack O'Neill was in the first season of Stargate SG1 titled Cold Lazarus, one of my fav episodes :)_


	6. Break of Dawn

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Thanks again everyone who took the time to review the last chapter. It keeps me motivated to continue with this tale. Thanks also goes to ESCotLoE for her assistance and picking up all my typing boo-boos._

**6: Break of Dawn**

All of Sheppard's attention was directed at the ghostly form of Sumner as he waited for the knife to sink into his heart; Lorne and the apparition of his dead sister were forgotten. He felt bone-weary, his very soul felt overly burdened by guilt, sinking him down into a darkness that he never felt before. All the memories of all the people whom he had failed to help or save in his lifetime as a soldier came back to haunt him tenfold. He deserved this. He deserved to die. He could feel wetness pooling at the bottom of his feet from the cut he received on his forearm earlier and he did not care. The pain of the wound felt very far away, he barely felt it, but he felt light headed and weak, and he wondered whether it was due to blood loss. A memory of him laying bleeding on the floor of his own quarters came to his mind. He brushed it away, not wanting to think about it. He stood up still and straight, waiting for his execution, eying the ghostly image of his former commanding officer as Sumner approached him with the promise of death in his eyes.

As if from far away, he heard commotion on the other side of the room, the rattle of P90s, but Sheppard paid them no heed. The shimmering apparition before him was all that mattered. He shivered, feeling terribly cold suddenly. The phantom of Sumner was staring at him now as if knowing that he was waiting for his execution and death. For the first time, there was approval lighting up in the spectral eyes and Colonel Marshal Sumner gave him a slight nod. The nod seemed familiar somehow, as if he had seen it somewhere before, a long time ago — a memory stirred, but then it was gone, and all that was left was a feeling of waiting to get this over with. He wanted the guilt that was suffocating him like a vice of never-ending despair to end. He was tired, his soul felt empty, he deserved this. Sheppard did not move but remained rooted to the ground as he faced his executor. The phantom of Sumner began to laugh evilly.

"Yeees Sheppaaaard... You know your fate. Yoooour death is miiiine! I aaam here because of yoouuu! You deserve to diiiieee to paaay fooor yoooourr criiiimes... Yooour fault Sheppaaaard..., yoouuur fault thaaaat I'm heeeere!"

The ghost raised his knife, ready to plunge it into Sheppard's heart. John closed his eyes, pursed his lips into a thin line and braced his body for the deadly impact. On any other given day he would have looked at death in the eye and gone down fighting to his last dying breath, but this time was different, this time he was giving up, and he knew it. But he was so tired, and he didn't seem to have the energy to fight any more. The ghost of Sumner was correct, his death had resulted in John getting his promotion, replacing his dead CO's position in Atlantis. He had benefited while Sumner lay dead, his corpse turning to dust. He had an opportunity to save him, if only he had acted sooner, come a few minutes earlier, he could have saved his CO before that damn Wraith Queen sucked the life out from him. Before he had to kill the man with his own gun.

There was a yell nearby, or more like a growl, sounding vaguely familiar. Was that someone shouting his name? Suddenly he felt a large, powerful force hit him hard, then his body was lifted off the ground and swung over a broad shoulder in a fireman's lift.

"Sheppard! Do you have a death wish or something?!" John heard Ronon growl angrily at him as the Satedan spirited him away from the advancing ghost of Marshall Sumner. "Did you not hear me shout for you to move?!"

Sheppard did not reply as the guilt ridden fog slowly dissipated and awareness creped back into his mind again. He no longer felt so lethargic, nor did he wish to be killed by the hands of the ghost of Marshall Sumner; he felt ashamed that he had given in so easily to the phantom's influence. He shook his head, realizing that Ronon's running strides were making him feel dizzy and sick. He suddenly had to concentrate hard trying desperately not to puke on his rescuer. However all the jarring movement caused his stomach to rebel and before he knew what was happening he had thrown up all over the Satedan's lower back and legs. _Ooops! _He didn't think Ronon would appreciate that.

"If you did what I just think you did, Sheppard, I'm so going to kick your ass!" he heard Ronon growl at him but the Satedan never loss a stride as he carried him further away from Sumner whom he presumed was still chasing them, or more accurately him. Sumner wanted him, not Ronon, that much he knew. Ronon knew it too because the former runner held tightly onto him, took another backward glance, aimed and released a shot with his Satedan blaster using his free hand. Sheppard heard him curse and felt the Ronon extending his strides.

Vaguely John remembered shooting his 9mm at the apparition of Marshall Sumner not so long ago. Like his 9mm, it looked like the Satedan blaster couldn't harm the apparition either. He also realized that there were others in the infirmary now, there were sounds of P90s firing at the phantoms in the infirmary. So, everyone could see them too, he was not going out of his mind. From personal experience, he knew that bullets from the P90s wouldn't be able to harm either ghosts. He briefly wondered what could. He also hoped that Major Lorne was all right. He was beginning to feel extremely light headed. His head was starting to swim dramatically now and black dots were starting to appear before his vision; he could feel the puncture wound in his shoulder starting to bleed again through the thick bandages. He tried to remain conscious longer, but it was a losing battle. With a soft groan he slumped limply on Ronon's back as darkness enfolded him and took him away.

oOo

Rodney groaned, his face was pounding with pain, as he heard an anxious Czech voice call his name. What was Radek doing in his quarters? he wondered fuzzily. On second thought, why was he lying on the cold hard floor instead of some nice warm comfy bed?

"Rodney! Rodney! Are you all right? Please answer me!" Someone was shaking his shoulder violently, rattling all his teeth. _Ow! Ow! Ow! Will you stop that you silly man! Can't you see that all that shaking making it worse? _McKay complained but didn't have the energy to say the words aloud.

"I don't think he can hear you, Doc. Looks like he was punched in the face pretty hard. That looks nasty." He heard another voice whom he did not recognize say. _Who were this people in his room? Geez, can't a genius get a little peace and quiet in his own quarters for frigging sake?!_

"No, no! He's coming around. I think I heard him say something... What is it, Rodney?" Zelenka's voice spoke again, he sounded anxious. Hmm, normally Radek doesn't sound anxious unless there was something wrong. Was there something wrong? Dammit, why was the front of his face so freakin' painful? Why was his left ear burning, feeling as if it had just been shot?

Rodney finally managed to pry open his eyelids amidst flaring pain that seemed to pulsate in the middle of his face to look up into a sea of faces that consisted of Radek Zelenka and two armed military guards. Oh yeah, he remembered now and for a moment wished he didn't. He had called Security when he was being chased by the ghost of Brendan Gall who was trying to frigging kill him. Rodney also painfully recalled his face becoming the sidewalk for the ghost of Gall: that was why his nose hurt so much, more so than the burning pain of his bleeding ear.

"Ow! I tiin my nooo's broken!" Rodney mumbled incoherently, his hands going to touch his throbbing nose, the source of all his grief. Oh god, oh god, oh god, he didn't know that it would hurt so much!

"Easy there, Rodney. I think you're correct. That nose doesn't look too good. Like tomato that got squashed." Radek said helpfully.

"Ooo, that wout mae a guy fee' better!" he grumbled, his words still sounding garbled as if he was speaking through his nose, or more accurately through his broken nose, made worse with his hands in front of his face. He frowned, noticing his garbled speech and not liking it at all. He was starting to sound like that silly cartoon character, Elmer Fudd. No no, that wouldn't do, not especially for the Chief Science Officer. He tried to take a deep breath, which was quite hard to do with a broken nose, so he decided to breath through his mouth instead.

"What are you doing here, Radek?" he finally managed to croak out more rationally as the Czech scientist helped him to sit up.

"You don't remember? You screamed in ear that you were being attacked by ghost of our former associate Dr. Brendan Gall. Of course, I had to drop everything and come save you." Zelenka replied. "I arrived just as these two kind security marines arrived."

Rodney looked up to see two armed military types looking down at him in concern.

"So, you managed to get rid of Gall?" McKay asked hopefully.

Radek shook his head. "When we arrived, you were unconscious and bleeding on floor. There was nobody around."

"What? I'm bleeding? Oh god! Someone take me to Beckett immediately!" Rodney started to hyperventilate, suddenly realizing that his nose was actually a bloody mess; he didn't do bleeding well at all.

Zelenka nodded his head. "I agree. I was about to head there myself before I hear that our friend Gall was attacking you. Fortunately, I managed to relay message to Dr. Weir and others about EMF device activating. Do you think you can walk? We need to go to infirmary immediately. I believe Colonel Sheppard, Dr. Beckett and others might be in trouble." As if to emphasize his point, Radek showed the EMF device that he carried with him to McKay. Rodney looked at it and saw several dots displaying ghostly activities in the infirmary. There were four dots in the screen.

Oh god! Sheppard, Carson and the others! McKay's eyes widened as he recalled that he had been heading there himself before the ghost of Brendan Gall had punched the living daylights out from him. Suddenly the pain of his bloody nose and bleeding ear didn't seem so important any longer, not when his friends lives were at stake.

"Yes, yes, well, what are you waiting for Radek? Help me up, we've got to go there immediately!" McKay said anxiously as Zelenka took an arm and helped Rodney get to his feet. Rodney groaned as his vision spun dramatically for a while.

"Whoa! Head rush! I think I stood up too fast," Rodney mumbled as he waited for the room to settle a bit.

"Yes," Radek agreed, "but first I think you need this." The Czech scientist handed Rodney a handkerchief from his pocket. "Very clean, didn't use it for nose snort yet."

Rodney looked at it puzzled. "What's this for? I don't need to blow my nose, you silly man."

Radek frowned at hearing the insult and let out an exasperated sigh before offering an explanation. "Not to blow nose, but to cover it. Your nose is bleeding all over floor, Rodney."

oOo

Beckett's knee and the behind of his thigh where the brick had hit it were pulsating waves of agony. Carson gasped, squeezing his eyes shut trying to stop tears of pain from forming at the edge of his eyelids. He knew as soon as he fell the wrong way, with his knee twisting horribly under him and hearing that loud awful crack, that it had been dislocated. In his years in the medical profession, he had heard some of his patients say that a dislocation was often more painful than a clean break, and from the way he felt at the moment, he thoroughly agreed with that assessment. His hand went to his knee joint, and he could feel the bone under the skin jutting at an odd angle. It needed setting, but he couldn't do it himself. With a dislocated knee, he knew that he wouldn't be able to escape from the ghost of Perna any longer. He could hear her screaming something behind him, laughing at his pain.

He turned around, glancing behind him and saw Perna looking at him with glee, a gloating, hungry look on her face. He did not like leaving his back exposed to the ghostly apparition, so he turned around so that he could face his demon. He tried to scramble clumsily backwards or more accurately crawl with one leg and two hands, while dragging his dislocated leg along with him towards the exit. Damned if he would give up now! If Perna's ghost wanted to kill him, he would face it like a man, staring death in the eye, not crawling on the floor of his office like a wee worm.

Then suddenly he felt arms reaching behind him, making him cry out with shock.

"It's okay Dr. Beckett, it's me, Teyla. Please let me help you," he heard the Athosian's voice say as he allowed her to lift him slightly and drag him out from the office.

"Yooooouuuu wiiiillll be mine, Caaaarson Beckett! I shaaaaalll be baaaaack!" he heard the ghostly voice of Perna shriek back at him. Then her voice echoed off as her shimmering apparition wavered and faded from the room.

"Whe...Where did she go?" Carson stammered, looking around bewildered.

Teyla took a quick glance at all corners of the room. "I do not know," she replied. "But I think that she is gone."

When it became clear that no ghostly Perna was going to suddenly appear and attack them any time soon, Carson and Teyla both breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Put me down, Teyla. Have you set a dislocated limb before, lass?" he finally gasped out painfully.

He knew that the dislocated knee would have to be set before he could be of any use to his patients. He couldn't afford to wait for one of the other doctors to arrive. Not only did he have a painfully dislocated knee joint, but he also knew that the back of his thigh would now have some lovely shades of bruises and painful contusions from its encounter with Perna's brick. It was bloody painful having to sit on the contusions of his badly bruised thigh, but he didn't have a choice in the matter and Carson stilled the whimper that wanted to form on his lips. He knew that he was fortunate to be alive and breathing.

The Athosian gently set him down and came around to look at his dislocated knee before staring at him in the eye.

"Yes, I have handled such injuries for my people at Athos, Dr. Beckett." Teyla replied calmly, knowing what Carson required from her. "Often we get hunters with dislocations that need setting."

"That's good lass, that means ya know what to do," Carson muttered as cold sweat broke out from him at the thought of what was to come. Good lord, this would hurt like hell. In the infirmary, he heard the rattle of gunfire, he also thought he heard the voice of his young nurse Polly shouting something. He really needed to get there now, his patients needed him. However, he couldn't do anything until Teyla set his leg.

"Okay, Dr. Beckett, I shall do this on the count of three. Are you ready?" Teyla asked calmly as she took a firm hold of his dislocated leg in her hands, ready to set it back into place again.

Carson gave her a nervous nod. "Aye, just bloody get on with it lass, before I lose my nerve all together!"

He closed his eyes, leaned back and steeled himself for the intense pain that he knew would come at the setting of the limb. His heartbeat was already beginning to race faster; he honestly didn't know whether his nerves would be able to last to the count of three. He heard Teyla take a deep breath, then started to count.

"One..."

There was a sharp firm jerk, followed by an indescribable pain that caused Carson to yelp out as a result of it. In the midst of it, he heard and felt his dislocated joint slip back into place as a result of Teyla's expert ministration.

"Bloody hell, lass! What happened to 'two' and 'three'?!" he asked indignantly.

Teyla gave him a knowing smile. "I believed it was better that I did not prolong the anxiety on your part, Dr. Beckett. We have a saying among my people. 'If one must cause pain to a friend, it is best that that friend does not see it coming.' I believed that this was one such occasion."

Carson smiled, "Aye, lass. I can see why that's a wise saying indeed. A sneaky bonny lass you are, Teyla, but wise beyond your years. Now help me up to my feet, luv, I believe that there are patients that I have to attend to."

Although his knee was still throbbing painfully, it didn't hurt as much as when it was dislocated. With Teyla's help, he got to his feet and Beckett discovered that he could put his weight on it and limp forward much to his satisfaction.

oOo

Ronon instantly knew when Sheppard fell unconscious by the dead weight that he felt on his shoulders. "Sheppard?" he called out, hoping to hear a reply from his friend but he was not surprised when the Colonel didn't answer.

"Damn!" he grunted, taking another backward glance, looking for the ghostly apparition that was after Sheppard. When he didn't see any shimmering ghost chasing them any longer, he paused, then came to a halt breathing heavily. Sweat was rolling down his face, arms and back in rivulets. He also smelt really bad courtesy of the unconscious man whom he was carrying on his shoulder. His frown deepened, if that man wasn't so badly injured, he would have kicked Sheppard's ass for doing what he did. But for now, all that concerned him was to ensure that Sheppard was all right.

He turned to look around, noticing that the other marines in the room had also stopped firing. Through the blinds of the infirmary, Ronon saw that dawn was breaking across the sea, shining its first rays of sunlight onto the city of Atlantis. At the rise of dawn, all the ghosts had vanished as if they had never been. The sudden silence that had settled in the infirmary was now deafening.

In the silence that followed, Ronon heard soft plopping sounds like drops of water dripping at his feet. He frowned at the noise, looked down and released a low curse. There was a large puddle of blood pooling on the floor beside him coming from Sheppard. Ronon looked around, strode quickly to an empty infirmary bed and carefully laid the unconscious pilot on it. Examining the man, Ronon noted that the stitches to Sheppard's shoulder wound had come off and he was bleeding profusely. In addition to that, there was also a deep ugly cut on Sheppard's forearm, which was also contributing to the bleed. The man laying on the bed looked exceedingly pale, and if it were not for the shallow breaths that Ronon saw he was still taking, the Satedan would have been seriously worried that John Sheppard was dead. He pressed a firm hand hard against the unconscious man's shoulder wound, hoping to ease some of the bleed, before turning around to the marines behind him.

"Get a doctor here immediately!" he growled.

Another person close by echoed his words by saying "Make that two doctors!"

The man's voice sounded familiar and Ronon turned to see General Jack O'Neill kneeling beside the crumpled form of Major Lorne. There was a glass splinter poking out from the Major's back. However, it didn't take long for the glass splinter to vanish back to where it came from. At its disappearance, blood started to bubble out from Lorne's back. O'Neill cursed, grabbed a clean cloth and began applying a pressure bandage to the wound.

Ronon turned back to gaze at Sheppard and immediately frowned. Something was wrong. It didn't take him long to realize that during the brief moment he took to glance at the marines, O'Neill and Lorne, Sheppard had stopped breathing.

oOo

TBC

_AN: This chapter was a bit of a struggle for me. I practically had to threaten the plot bunnies with no carrots to get them to continue with this and then stayed up until 1.30am working on it with an early rise the next day... eep! Served me right for getting carried away and placing all our boys in cliffy situations... lol. For all you serious Rodney whump lovers, sorry for not whumping Rodney more but I need his brains in this tale. I think the next chapter, our heroes will be trying to solve the mystery._


	7. Close Call

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Many thanks to each and every one of you who took the time to read and review, they certainly got the plot bunnies working, which resulted in a longer chap than normal. Please forgive all medical errors in this chapter. Also sorry to do this, but I misjudged the length of this chapter ... our heroes trying to solve the mystery will occur in the next chapter... Doh! _

oOo

**7: Close call**

Ronon was frozen for a second as he looked at Sheppard's lifeless form. With a growl, he placed his hand at the side of Sheppard's neck, searching for a pulse, then his ear on the top of the too still chest, frantically checking for a heartbeat — there was none. With growing anxiety, Ronon yelled for the marines to get a doctor as he began doing compressions and started CPR.

Suddenly Carson was there yelling out "What the bloody hell happened here?!" Ronon took a quick glance up and saw that Teyla was beside the Scottish doctor, providing support as he limped and hobbled as fast as he could to his two patients, looking at a loss for words on who to treat first.

O'Neill sensed Beckett's dilemma and shouted, "Lorne's still hanging on. See to Sheppard!"

A determined look formed on Carson Beckett's face. He didn't need to be told twice, and despite his injured leg, he moved like a speed demon to arrive at Sheppard's side. His eyes took in Sheppard's pallor, his motionless body and his face tightened at what he saw.

"How long?!" he asked Ronon urgently who was still doing CPR.

"A two minutes, maybe three..." Ronon replied between gasps of breaths.

"Bloody hell..." Carson repeated the curse. "Ok, I'll take over from here, laddie," he said. The Satedan nodded, glad to hand over the ministrations to the doctor. He look one last look at Sheppard, willing his strength onto his friend as he stepped back, moving out of the way for Beckett and his medical personnel. By now other medical personnel were pouring into the infirmary, after having been allowed in by the military staff. Dr. Beckett was yelling for a defibrillator, various medical instruments and drugs. All of Beckett's people moved with efficiency to obey his orders.

Ronon found himself being pushed further away from the hive of activity that was happening around Sheppard and Lorne. Not wanting to be a deterrent to those who needed to do their jobs in order to save lives, the Satedan quickly left the immediate area to stand beside General O'Neill who was also waiting and watching from the sidelines and out of the way from the medical personnel. The General had relinquished his post by Major Lorne's side at the arrival of Dr. Robinson and several other doctors and nurses to the infirmary.

Ronon saw O'Neill acknowledge him and he returned the General a courtesy nod. As they stood together watching the frenzied activity of medical personnel working on the two men, the Satedan heard O'Neill say casually to him, "I think you need a shower, big guy."

In response, Ronon gave him a death glare and a low growl, resulting in O'Neill taking a prudent step away from him. The Satedan didn't know whether the General was repulsed by the smell or whether he veered towards the side of caution, nor did he care. If Sheppard's condition wasn't so dire, he would have kicked the man's ass, team leader or no team leader — the stench of John Sheppard's puke was not an easy thing to bear.

oOo

Dr. Carson Beckett could not believe what was happening. When he left his two patients the night before, they were both sleeping comfortably and on the mend. Now one of them had no pulse and the other bleeding heavily from a horrible wound on his back. Good lord, how in the bloody hell did things degenerate so badly? Actually he knew the answer to that. It was the result of mysterious phantoms appearing and attacking his patients. From his close call with the ghostly Perna, these apparitions seemed hell bent on taking lives. To his relief, Carson saw Dr. Robinson arrive to attend to the wounded Major, relieving O'Neill from the task. She was an efficient doctor and Beckett had every confidence in her abilities as he heard her instructing Lorne to be lifted on the gurney and prepped for surgery. More doctors and nurses arrived to provide him and Dr. Robinson assistance.

A nurse quickly hooked Sheppard up to a heart monitor machine and turned it on. However, now that Sheppard was attached to the heart monitor, it promptly informed all within the infirmary of how dire the situation was when the monitor instantly began emanating sounds of a flat line. Carson wasted no time as he ripped open Sheppard's scrub top as he needed to apply the required defibrillator gel onto his patient's chest first before he used the electric paddles on him.

With Sheppard's chest exposed, he saw the thick bandages now soaked through with blood; dark stains had leaked down past the bandages to pool on the sheets below. The frown on his brow deepened. With expert ease, he removed the thick bandages quickly, for they were impeding access to where one of the paddles needed to be placed. Good lord! The sight before him showed him evidence of the damage that he suspected had occurred: the earlier surgical sutures had somehow come off. Goodness knows what other damage the Colonel had done to himself this time. No wonder Sheppard was in such a state, he was bleeding much too much for his heart to continue pumping. Already his skin was looking too pale and clammy, almost as white as the sheets that he was laying on. As he started to apply the pre-defibrillator gel onto Sheppard's chest, Carson also shouted for several pints of Sheppard's blood type to be brought to the infirmary. The lad bloody well needed another blood transfusion after they got his heart working again, not to mention time in the OR in order to fix up the sutures and examine whether there had been any other internal injuries.

_Don't do this to me now, Colonel Sheppard! I know that you're in there somewhere wanting to live, laddie. Just work with me here! _For what seemed like an awfully long time, but in actual fact was only a matter of a few heartbeats, Beckett finally heard the defibrillator charge up.

"Clear!" he shouted as he placed the paddles on John's exposed chest and applied the necessary pressure.

John's back arched several inches off from the bed as the paddles shocked his system. Carson instantly looked at the heart monitor, praying that their efforts to jump start Sheppard's heart would work. _Nothing... Dammit! Come on lad, you can do it, don't give up on me now, you hear?!_

From across the infirmary, he heard some one say, "Oh god! He's dead! We're too late, Sheppard's dead!"

He frowned, refusing to accept it. There was a battle with death going on here and he'll be damned if he were to lose! This was why he had become a doctor, to save lives, to make a difference in the world. He could bring Sheppard back! Sheppard would _not _die today, not if he could bloody well help it! He had worked too long and too hard last night fighting for this very man's life for him to lose him now... Dammit!

"Still no heartbeat, doctor!" One of the nurses informed him unnecessary. Carson nodded, looked at her and instructed her to increase the voltage. This has to work, he prayed, he wasn't about to lose a patient today. Especially not Lt. Colonel John Sheppard! Not today and especially not in his own infirmary! He wasn't about to admit defeat.

"It's ready, doctor." He heard the nurse say.

"Clear!" he shouted again, placing the paddles hard on John's chest, at the same time applying the necessary pressure for a second time. Sheppard's body arched out again at the shock. _Come on, lad! Come on! You can do it, son! Don't make me have to come after you to pull your arse out from friggin' Hades itself!_

For a few seconds there was nothing, then suddenly there was a weak pulse, which made Carson and others in the room breathe a soft sigh of relief. It was weak, but it was something. But Carson was not ready to relax yet, instead he held a baited breath, listening to the sound from the heart monitor as it began to beep irregularly, struggling to maintain the constant rhythm of a living heart. He needed to hear a stronger more rhythmic beat to know that the Colonel would be able to hold his own. One that would tell him that that John Sheppard was out of danger. Carson's body tensed, his senses coiled and ready to respond as he tried to will his very strength into the man that lay before him fighting for his life.

"_Come on, lad, come on! You can do it!_" he whispered desperately to Sheppard, urging him on. Urging him to live.

However, despite his best encouragements, the irregular heart beat paused and halted all together. The heart monitor began to scream out a flat line again.

"We're lost him again!" he heard someone in the infirmary say. Once again, Carson frowned darkly. _No! _He refused to accept it, by hook or by crook, Sheppard was going to make it through this, he promised himself.

"Bloody hell, Colonel! You're wanting a fight with me now, don't ya, lad?! Well, if it's a fight ye want, it's a fight you'll get! You're damn well not giving up on me now, you hear, son?! Come on, lad! _Live, you bugger, live! _Don't you dare die on me now you hear?! _Get your frigging heart to start beating and bloody well live!_" he screamed at the top of his lungs at Sheppard's still form and didn't care a rat's ass what his staff thought of him then. He had too much invested in this battle of life and death, and he bloody well wasn't about to give up now.

Carson looked up at the nurse and said, "Increase the voltage, maximum setting!"

The nurse looked at him a little hesitantly. "Dr. Beckett, won't that..."

Beckett glared at her and she instantly kept quiet, nodding her head at him when the required voltage was set.

"CLEAR!" he shouted again as he applied the paddles for a third time on his patient's unmoving chest. He had heard the saying that third time's a charm. He prayed that it was so. John Sheppard's body arched off the infirmary bed for the third time. This would be the last time, Carson knew as he held a baited breath. _Please work! Dear Lord, please make this work! _He didn't think Sheppard's body would be able to handle the strain of another shock. _If this does not restart his heart again, then nothing will._

For a moment or two there was silence. Nobody spoke, all held onto a baited breath, desperately hoping that they would hear the sounds of a heartbeat, telling them that they had won a battle against death. Then, when it seemed almost certain that they had lost him, they heard it — the faint stirrings of a heartbeat. At first started out erratically, but then presently stabilized itself to a steadier beat.

"You did it, Dr. Beckett! You brought him back! He's alive!" the nurse stated joyfully to Carson.

"Oh thank God!" Carson murmured to himself, feeling suddenly utterly exhausted. He turned towards the nurse who had spoken to him. "Aye, it was a close call, lass, but looks like he's with us again..." However, he knew that the battle was not yet over. The Colonel still was in serious need of a blood transfusion as well as sutures to his wound. He also needed the new wound to his forearm attended to, and probably another visit to the OR to ensure that everything was all right.

"Get him prepped for surgery, I fear he's done more damage to his earlier wound internally. Also make sure that we have enough of Colonel Sheppard's blood type for the transfusion, he's seriously anemic," Carson ordered as he hobbled away to wash his hands and prepare himself for the operating theater.

"Dr. Beckett, shouldn't you allow someone to see your leg first?" One of the nurses asked. He turned around and saw that it was Polly. She looked pale and frightened, but fortunately appeared unharmed.

He looked down at his throbbing leg, and gave her a wry smile. "I'll get it seen to later, lass. I'll have to attend to Colonel Sheppard right now. Besides, I'll have Dr. Anderson aiding me at the OR, so I should be fine. But are you okay, lass? I could hear ya screaming for help outside my office, but I couldn't get to you as I had troubles of me own," he said placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Nurse Polly gave him a hesitant smile, but there was a haunted look in her eyes. "Yes Dr. Beckett. He... he didn't get the opportunity to harm me as I managed to avoid his attacks. When dawn came, he ... he just vanished."

Carson nodded, not knowing what to else to say to the nurse except to give her an encouraging pat on the shoulder before limping away to prepare himself for surgery.

oOo

The infirmary was quiet, except for the soft regular beeps given out by the monitoring heart machines attached to Sheppard and Lorne. It was morning yet the lights were dimmed down and the blinds closed, allowing the patients to rest longer. There were a few more other patients now stationed in the infirmary, courtesy of ghosts who had attacked them just before the break of dawn. However, the two most critical patients had been placed relatively nearby so that the medical staff in the infirmary could monitor them easier. Both men had made it out from surgery fine to the relief of everyone else.

Sheppard, Carson stated, should wake up soon, they had given him several blood transfusions, stitched up all his wounds and mended an internal bleed. For a man who had just survived a brush with death, he was actually in a better condition than Lorne, who was presently in a coma. This was mainly attributed to Lorne's head injury and the wound that he had received on his back. Nobody knew when he would wake up. Although Dr. Robinson had informed them that Lorne's condition was not life-threating, it was still worrisome nonetheless. Currently, Lorne had a privacy curtain enclosing his area, and a nurse was watching over him. Dr. Robinson didn't really want anyone disturbing the Major for a few hours yet.

Sitting up on the spare infirmary bed nearby, Dr. Rodney McKay stared at the LCD screen of his tablet, reading the electronic report that Zelenka had sent across from the data that they received from the EMF device. He was tired and still felt a little high strung. He knew that he should get some sleep before their meeting in a few hours, however he found it difficult to get some rest after all that had happened. As he didn't really feel like returning to his quarters where he had been attacked, and staying in the infirmary allowed him to keep an eye on Sheppard, it seemed like a good compromise for him to rest on a spare bed at the infirmary. For once, Carson didn't seem to mind his presence there, which worked out well for Rodney.

Sheppard's team had decided that at least one of them should be with John at all times from now on, not only to be there for him when he regained consciousness but also to keep an eye on him in case Sumner's ghost decided to make another unwelcome appearance. Ronon had informed them how he saw John standing motionless, making no move to defend himself against Sumner's ghostly attack. If it hadn't been for the Satedan's prompt actions, all knew that John would be dead right now. They had almost lost him twice in less than 24 hours and Sheppard's team didn't intend to allow these ghosts another chance at hurting John.

Although Rodney had volunteered to do the first watch, both Ronon and Teyla insisted on being there too. They needed to be close to Sheppard after coming so close to losing him. Rodney noticed that Ronon had changed into a clean set of clothes and that his dreadlocks were still damp after taking a shower as a result of Sheppard's little accident on the Satedan. If things hadn't been so dire, Rodney would have laughed at Ronon's predicament. However with Sheppard fighting for his life and Rodney in a world of pain of his own from his injured nose; the last thing he felt like doing was laughing when he saw and smelled the vomit on Ronon's clothes.

Rodney carefully touched the white bandage around his broken nose — the bone had been reset and straightened by one of Carson's doctors, which meant that he wouldn't need to live with a crooked nose. He also had a small bandage around his other ear that had been injured by the phantom bullet. Currently, that ear was a little hard of hearing, due to the intensity of the gun blast, but it should clear in time. Rodney looked down, frowned and gave out a frustrated sigh. Why was it that while everyone else got more manly injuries, he got lumped with ones that made him look like a clown, he silently wondered. He knew that if Sheppard were awake, the pilot would tease him about it, perhaps when he awoke, he still would. Was there something in his genetic make up that had the fates laughing at him? It seemed totally unfair and unjust. He deserved better than that. However, he supposed that he was lucky in the sense that at least he wasn't dead. He recalled hearing the news about two Atlantis personnel who had been killed by the appearance of the pre-dawn phantoms.

Although it was two people whom he didn't really know well, he still felt for them and especially for their families. One of the dead was a scientist, the other a marine. Elizabeth had volunteered for the task of notifying their families about their deaths seeing that Rodney and John were both injured. Rodney had thanked her for it, but he knew that after this was all over — after they had solved and stopped these murderous ghosts from killing again, he would spend some time typing a personal note to the dead scientist's family. Although he knew that he wasn't very good with people and with words in general, he still owned the deceased scientist and his family that much courtesy; he wasn't about to shirk his duties no matter how unpleasant or difficult they were.

Rodney turned and looked at the sleeping form of Sheppard and the watchful forms of Ronon and Teyla sitting beside him. He remembered the chaos that he had walked into not so long ago. To arrive at the infirmary with Zelenka at his heels, to hear the flat line, to witness Carson desperately trying to resuscitate John Sheppard was like experiencing a weird sense of deja-vu. It reminded him of the time when Sheppard had the iratus bug stuck on his neck and they had arrived back at Atlantis with a dead Sheppard in tow.

However back then Rodney had only just begun to know Sheppard, they hadn't actually become firm friends yet. Now it was different matter: now he had more to lose for the pilot had become one of his closest friends in his relatively small circle of friends. Somehow, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard had become part of the surrogate family that Rodney had mentioned to his sister in his farewell tape that he recorded to her. Rodney realized that Sheppard had become the anchor of their close knit team, the head of the family, the glue that held them together. To know what they would lose if Sheppard were to die was undeniably painful for each and everyone of Sheppard's team.

So in frozen horror, Rodney had witnessed Dr. Carson Beckett fight for Sheppard's life. It was a duel with death, but one which Carson refused to admit defeat, and despite all the odds, he had dragged Sheppard away from the pearly gates, refusing to allow John to slip away from them. In less than 24 hours, they had almost lost Sheppard twice and each time Carson had been there to pull Sheppard back from the brink of death. As he watched Carson fight for Sheppard's life, Rodney began to have a greater respect for Beckett and all his voodoo medicine. Although Rodney would never admit to the good doctor himself, he knew then that he would rather have no other person there at that every moment working to save Sheppard than Dr. Carson Beckett himself. And Beckett did not disappoint, he had fought a grueling battle and won the fight against death, much to the relief of all.

McKay sighed and turned to look at the said doctor now. The man was snoring softly from the infirmary bed across from his. Although the Scottish doctor wasn't seriously injured, everyone knew that he wanted to be close to his patients, so it wasn't a surprise when Carson commandeered a spare infirmary bed to sleep in. McKay's gaze went to Beckett's injured leg that was in a long leg cast. He knew that having the cast would be painful over the bruises and contusions at the back of Beckett's upper thigh where the phantom brick had hit it. He heard about the doctor's dislocated knee and how Teyla had set it. He also knew that Carson had hobbled on despite his injury, going to the OR to work on Sheppard after he had successfully resuscitated John's heart in the infirmary. However, X-rays taken later had shown that Carson suffered from a minimally displaced patella, and as a result his leg was now in a long leg cast in order for his kneecap to heal properly. He would have to remain in cast for approximately four weeks, which was something that Carson wasn't happy about.

Rodney turned his gaze back to the tablet, reading the data there. He sighed, lifting his hand towards the side of his forehead, giving it a massage as he tried to ease the oncoming headache caused by the lack of sleep. He then moved his hand to rub his tired eyes, but accidentally brushed against the bandage on his nose, making him wince as spikes of pain burst forth from the front of his face, making him give out a soft groan. He really should try to get some rest, but he knew that they had a ticking deadline. He had to figure out what was causing the appearance of all these phantoms that seemed hell bent on killing them. He knew that he had to solve the mystery before midnight. He suspected that General O'Neill was correct, that despite their unexpected appearance just before the break of dawn, midnight would be when they appeared next. That meant that he had less than a day to try to figure things out and come up with a suitable solution.

He also needed to get more information on the names of all the personnel involved in the first and now second ghostly attacks. He had been given the names of about three quarters of the personnel involved in the first attack, and so far the data seemed to correspond to what he had suspected earlier. All those who had been attacked appeared to have the ATA gene. Now, he just needed the rest of the names and for Carson to confirm it; the doctor had access to all the medical records of those who had been successfully given the gene therapy. But he also knew that the information he had wasn't complete, he needed more data than he currently had now to complete his analysis. He had sent Zelenka to track down the additional information that he needed for his analysis. The Czech scientist had promised to try to get it to him before their meeting that morning, which fortunately had been rescheduled to take place a little later in the day.

Rodney felt certain that there had to be some logical scientific explanation for everything that was happening lately. He was, after all, a man of science, he did not believe in ghosts. The vision of Sheppard flat-lining on the infirmary bed came back to haunt him. He remembered thinking that Sheppard couldn't possibly die. And if the Colonel had to go, Rodney always envisioned that Sheppard would somehow go out with a big bang, saving the lives of those under his command either from the Wraith or some other threat found in the Pegasus galaxy. A hero's death. Not killed by some phantom in the infirmary. Not for a death that had no meaning. And certainly not by the ghost of Colonel Marshall Sumner.

Rodney found himself getting angry as he thought back to how close they came to losing Sheppard and Lorne. How they had already lost two good people to these murderous phantoms. He resolved that he would find out the cause of these ghostly attacks one way or another, and have a solution to it before the day was out. He promised himself that no one would die that day, not if he could help it. There had to be a scientific explanation to everything that had happened, and it was time for Dr. Rodney 'Sherlock' McKay to solve the mystery.

oOo

TBC


	8. Elementary, my dear Watson

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

**8: Elementary, my dear Watson**

The first thing that Sheppard heard was the soft beeping of the heart monitor informing him that he was still alive. He knew that something had occurred: that he was in the infirmary, for the feeling was all too familiar in situations when he had been injured and stuck in the infirmary. His mind felt foggy, like it floated in cotton candy clouds; he knew that he wasn't quite all there yet. He couldn't recall why he was there, how he got there in the first place. The last thing he remembered was going to bed in his quarters on a dark and stormy night. _That's okay, it can wait_, _I'll remember eventually, _he told himself.

For a moment, he was comfortable to just lay there, to not do anything, to not even think. He didn't bother to open his eyes as he floated for a while. Yet, as he tried to go back to sleep, scattered memories returned, he heard the heart monitor beside him increasing slightly in reaction to the violent memories. Suddenly the image of a pale white ghostly face of Colonel Marshall Sumner with burning eyes of coal burst into his mind, snarling accusing words at him: _Yoooouuu aaaarreee miine, Sheppard! Youuuur fault thaaat I'm deeaaath! Aaaall your fault!_

Sheppard gave out a shocked gasp and his eyes snapped open as he jerked upright, feeling the sudden pull of IVs lines ripping out from tender flesh, feeling a faraway pain in his chest and shoulder. His actions caused an immediate wail of electronic alarms. The sound hurt his ears, and it took him a moment to realize that his actions had disconnected him from the monitoring devices that he was attached to. Suddenly there were people all around him, a mass of blurred forms, calling out his name, reassuring him; then he felt gentle but firm hands reach out to push him down again.

"Easy, John. You're all right, you're safe now. You'll in the infirmary," he heard Teyla's voice say.

"We'll watch your back, Sheppard. We'll make sure that he doesn't get you," this came from Ronon.

"If you go on like that, Colonel, you'll pop a blood vessel, then end up flat on your back again," an acerbic voice sounded, typically Rodney.

"Calm down, son, or you're only make yourself worse!" the sound of the Scottish brogue was unmistakable, but it sounded further away, as if he was across the room. The voice suddenly edged towards a frustrated whine, "Damn it, will someone help me out of my bed so that I can attend to the Colonel?!"

His vision was still blurred and it took a while for him to clear his sleep fogged and drug induced mind, but hearing the familiar voices of his teammates calmed him down considerably. They were close by, they would not lie to him, he was okay — Marshall Sumner wasn't there trying to kill him... _It was just a dream... only a dream... _he tried to tell himself over and over again, trying to control the pounding beat of his racing heart. Yet, he knew that it hadn't been a dream but a memory, the ghost of Marshall Sumner or at least something that looked like Sumner had been there, first in his quarters, then in the infirmary, and it had tried to kill him twice. He remembered feeling a wave of guilt bombarding his senses, such tormenting, soul wrenching guilt that all he wished was for the pain to end.

He rubbed his eyes, hoping to clear his vision. That action seemed to help, for when he next looked up again, he saw Rodney, Teyla and Ronon gathered around his bed. All three had worried looks on their faces. The tall Satedan currently had his hand on his uninjured shoulder, having gently pushed him back down onto the pillows again, while Teyla was holding his left hand in a supportive grip. Carson, he saw, was now hobbling towards him with a leg cast and set of crutches while a nurse supported him. And on the other side of his bed, he saw McKay looking anxiously at him. He frowned then, looking at the astrophysicist's face quizzically. There were white bandages on the scientist's ears and nose.

"Are you... trying... for a clown look, Rodney? Because it's working and clowns are scary creatures... What the hell happened to you and Beckett?" Sheppard asked weakly as he moved his hand to rub his gritty eyes. His throat felt extremely parched now that he was more awake and aware of his surroundings. He felt Teyla place an ice chip in his mouth, which he gratefully accepted as it soothed his dry throat bringing him some relief.

"Oh ha ha! That's right, laugh at the scientist. How typical! Is that the first thing you do when you wake up, Colonel?! Somehow, I just _knew _you were going say that, you are always soooo predictable! Juvenile, that's what you are, Sheppard. An overgrown insensitive kid. It's not my fault that I somehow didn't end up with more manly or macho-like injuries like shoulder or chest wounds which, I know, I know... leaves impressive scars that impresses the women!" McKay retorted back with a sarcastic bite.

However, despite the anger in Rodney's retort, Sheppard recognized the hurt underlying in scientist's voice. He also caught a brief glimpse of a wounded puppy dog look on McKay's features. His jibe had hurt the scientist's feelings. Scrutinizing the man closer, John saw that Rodney had dark circles around his eyes, evident that the scientist had been working some late nights. The fact that he was also in the infirmary might have contributed to McKay's lack of sleep. Sheppard felt guilty, suddenly regretting his rash words.

He turned hazel eyes back at McKay. "Look Rodney... I didn't mean to..." his apology was cut short by the arrival of Carson and a nurse to his bed.

"Bloody hell, Colonel! What are you trying to do, son? Rip out all the IV lines that we've attached to you?"

Sheppard turned to look down at his arm and wrists, noting the drops of blood from the IV lines that he had accidentally detached. "Oops, sorry about that, Doc."

"I bet you are, Colonel," Carson replied in annoyance. John looked up and was surprised to find that the Scottish doctor too had shadows under his eyes. What the hell had happened in the last 24 hours to cause all the worried looks around him? Sheppard wondered. He tried to sit up again, and grunted when a sharp pain in his chest and shoulder penetrated his drug induced mind. He looked down at his chest, feeling bandages there and being surprised about it. Not only did his chest feel sore, as if he had been hit by a ten pound truck, but from previous experience, it also felt as if he had a couple of cracked ribs to boot. But the odd thing was, he didn't remember hurting his ribs.

"Ronon cracked a couple of ribs while he was doing CPR on you," Rodney stated, seeing the confused and pained look on Sheppard's features.

"CPR?" Sheppard asked dumbly, looking at his team then at the Satedan in question.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Sheppard, but I was trying to safe your life. Besides you shouldn't have barfed all over me," Ronon gave him an apologetic look mixed with a dark glare as he stood straighter and folded his arms across his chest.

"I did that?" he stated softly, recalling vague recollections of that unpleasant event. "Guess, that makes us even then, big guy."

"Oh, you should have seen Ronon then, boy did he smell bad! Everyone in the infirmary was avoiding him as if he had the plague!" Rodney interjected happily. "What? It's the truth wasn't it?" The dark looks that everyone shot his way quickly shut him up.

"The rest of the soreness will also be attributed to the defibrillator that I had to use a couple of times on you to jump start your heart, Colonel," Carson informed him. "You gave us quite a scare, lad. We almost lost you twice."

Sheppard now turned to give the Scottish doctor a wordless stare, his hand still feeling the bandages on his sore chest. "Twice?" he repeated dumbly again as Carson and the nurse started to reattach the IV lines. He didn't realize that things had been that bad. He couldn't remember any of this, and he supposed that it was a good thing. He tried to recall what was the last thing he remembered. He recalled that there had been someone else in the infirmary with him, when Sumner appeared for the second time to finish the job. He suddenly looked up. "How's Major Lorne?" he asked, his voice betraying his concern.

There were muted looks that passed between the members of his team. He knew then that the news wasn't good. His heart rate started to quicken, the machine betraying his anxiety. "Is he...?"

"He's alive, John," Teyla told him calmly, patting his hand reassuringly.

"But?" he knew that there was a but, he saw the looks that passed between the people who stood before him.

"But he's in a coma." Rodney replied bluntly. Sheppard knew that he could always count on McKay to tell him the truth. That was what he liked about the scientist, there was no sugar coating his words.

"A coma?" he gritted out, his hands curled into angry fists. His memory was returning. He remembered the attacking phantoms now: how Lorne had pushed him out of the way, saving him from the phantom's knife; how that same knife had passed through the major's back and out through his chest but it had not harmed the major. He vaguely recalled Ronon grabbing him and lifting him with a fireman's lift, saving his life before Sumner's ghost could plunge the dagger in his chest. But beyond that everything was hazy; he still couldn't recall what had happened to Lorne.

"How?" he finally asked gazing at his team, his eyes haunted.

"He was stabbed in the back by a glass splinter. We managed to fix him up and he's not in any danger. Don't ya worry, son, he's gonna be okay," Carson tried to reassure him.

"Except that he's in a coma," Sheppard replied woodenly. Somehow, he felt that he should have been there for the major as Lorne had been there for him.

"Aye," Carson replied dejectedly. "Aye, that he is, Colonel."

His fists tightened harder. Despite being injured himself, he needed to do something. He couldn't remain in the infirmary, waiting for the next attack. It was his job to protect Atlantis and its people, he had to find a way to get to the bottom of this. But if he knew Rodney, the scientist would already be working on it, trying to find a solution to mystery — that would explain the dark circles under the astrophysicist's eyes. In fact, not only Rodney, but Weir and the others as well. But it wasn't good enough, he needed to be involved in it as well.

Rodney however seemed to sense what he was thinking. "Colonel, we'll be having a meeting later today to discuss everything that has happened. Do you think you feel up for it?"

Carson looked at McKay in horror and started to object. "Rodney, I don't think that's wise. After all, Colonel Sheppard has only just regained consciousness, he's still weak. He bloody well nearly died a few hours ago. He needs his rest, Rodney."

"_No!_" Sheppard protested, his countenance determined. He would heal faster if he knew what was happening rather than being left out of the loop. He owned McKay for the suggestion, and scrutinizing the scientist's facial bandages, he felt sorry for the guy. McKay was right, he was being juvenile with his thoughtless remark — McKay didn't deserve to be laughed at or made fun of just because he had a twist of rotten luck. The man deserved more than that. He deserved his fair share of respect and dignity. Sheppard promised himself that he would make it up to McKay later.

"It's only a meeting, Carson... nothing stressful." Sheppard said, looking up at him. "I should be able to make it... I _need _to do this, Doc..." His voice came close to pleading, and he wished that he didn't sound so weak, but it couldn't be helped. His hazel eyes locked onto Beckett's, desperately wanting the man to understand.

Despite his biting sarcasm Rodney was like a lifeline to John; he came to his rescue, he understood what Sheppard needed. "Yes... Carson, we could actually have the meeting in the infirmary, move Sheppard perhaps to that corner infirmary bed over there, it'll be more private so as not to disturb the other patients. We could set up a table, have a couple of chairs, get an LCD monitor attached to the wall over there, set up some office partitions — it'll be a piece of cake."

"That is a good idea, Dr. Beckett," Teyla said calmly, backing up Rodney and knowing how much John needed to be involved in the meeting as well. The Colonel had as much invested in this as everyone else, maybe even more; it was him that the ghost wanted to kill after all. "As both you and Rodney are already temporarily placed in the infirmary, it only makes sense that you have it here. I do not see why Colonel Sheppard should not be included in the meeting, after all he is the head of the military contingent."

"Sheppard needs to be in the meeting," Ronon echoed firmly, his tone more of a command rather than a request.

"Also, it'll allow you to be close to the rest of your patients in the event of an emergency," Rodney added hurriedly, pleased to see that he had the rest of his team's backing on this for once.

The Satedan nodded in agreement. He understood how Sheppard felt, knowing how much Sheppard needed to be in control of his fate. If he was in Sheppard's place, he knew that he wouldn't want to be sitting on his ass not knowing what was happening while the rest of his team had a meeting without him. "Just say the word, Doc, and I'll carry the conference table here myself," the Satedan volunteered.

Carson looked at the three determined faces of Sheppard's team before turning towards the patient himself. He saw hazel eyes regarding him with iron determination, but it was the desperation that he saw in them that finally made him agree to concede to the wishes of his team.

"All right then, but the first sign I see of you tiring, Colonel, and you're out of the meeting." He then turned towards Rodney, "And only if you get Dr. Weir's go-ahead on this, Rodney. After all, she's the one whose scheduling the conference."

All members of Sheppard's team grinned in delight.

"Oh, we'll get Elizabeth's approval on this, don't you worry!" Rodney said as he folded his arms and jutted his lower chin out confidently.

oOo

Rodney McKay was correct, it was pretty easy to convince Elizabeth to reschedule the meeting place to the infirmary after she heard how much Sheppard wanted to be part of it. She knew that it was a wise decision, after all, as head of the military contingent, Sheppard's input would be just as important.

Two hours later, with Ronon, Teyla and Zelenka's help, McKay had everything set up for the meeting. Carson had wheeled Sheppard's bed into the corner, replacing the empty one there. He then had the area warded off with temporarily office partitions so as to offer them them some relative privacy and not to disturb the rest of the patients in the infirmary. Ronon brought in the small but heavy conference table while Teyla arranged the chairs around it. She made sure that there was enough of a gap between the chairs that would allow Sheppard to see and participate in the meeting from where he was.

oOo

"How are you feeling, John?" Elizabeth asked, as she approached the infirmary with Jack O'Neill in tow, noting in approval at the arranged set up. She studied Sheppard, happy to see him looking so much better than when she last saw him.

"I'm good," came the standard reply. Weir lifted an amused eyebrow at his response, this from the man who had flat lined a few hours ago, but did not say anything to contradict him.

"General O'Neill," Sheppard greeted Jack as he sauntered over to stand beside John's bed. "How are you, sir?"

Jack gave him an amused smile. "Now, that should be the million dollar question that I should be asking you, Colonel," he quipped. "But seeing that you asked, except for this little memento," he showed Sheppard his bandaged hand. "I'm fine and dandy."

Seeing John's puzzled look, O'Neill explained. "It's a burn, I got it in the first attack, twelve midnight. As for the second attack before dawn today, I managed to send that little ghosty away before it did any harm."

"You did? When did this happen? How did you manage that?" The questions came from McKay who quickly approached Jack, his curiosity peaked. He had forgotten that O'Neill would have also experienced a second attack.

Jack turned towards Rodney, a look of irritation crossed his features. Weir suspected that the General didn't care much for the astrophysicist. During her short time stationed at SGC, she had heard rumors that McKay hadn't been well received nor liked there.

"Let's just say that I managed to convince the ghost that it didn't really want to do what it wanted to do," said Jack vaguely, waving his hand in the air.

"Huh, fascinating. So what did you say to it specifically?" Rodney asked, intelligent blue eyes focused on O'Neill now. Elizabeth stared at O'Neill, also curious to hear the answer. At the corner of her eye, she saw Sheppard lean forward slightly, he too was interested in hearing what Jack had to say.

O'Neill frowned, it didn't look like he wanted to reply. Weir touched his hand lightly. "It could help us figure what's going on here, General."

Jack turned and gave her an unreadable look, but she saw hidden pain in his gaze as he silently nodded in agreement, blowing out a soft tension filled breath from his thin lips. He then grimaced slightly, closing his eyes briefly as if to gather his thoughts on what he had to say. When he opened them again, he stared at a distant space making sure that he didn't look at any of them. "I told it I loved him."

Rodney who was chewing on a powerbar at that moment suddenly chocked on it and spluttered out, _"You said what?!"_

O'Neill frowned and turned towards McKay, throwing him an annoyed look. "Oh for crying out loud, McKay, I don't need to repeat myself! Look, the ghost or whatever it was, it took on the image of my son, Charlie. He died a long time ago before I joined SGC."

"Oh," Rodney said, looking shocked and uncomfortable at the revelation. The others looked at O'Neill in sympathy. Weir now understood the look of sadness that she had witnessed in Jack's face the night before and the reference he made to the ghost being a loved one. It all made sense now.

"I'm sorry, Jack, we didn't know," Elizabeth said gently as she reached out to briefly touch his forearm in sympathy.

Jack looked down, one hand fidgeting at the bandage on his burnt hand. "Yeah well, not much people know about it, I kinda like to keep it that way."

Elizabeth nodded in understanding. "Well, it sounds that the power of love conquering all, is true after all," she commented after a while, trying to break the sudden uncomfortable silence in the room. "But let's take our seats, shall we?" she said, turning towards everyone. "The purpose of this meeting is to find a way to stop these ghosts and we've already started our conversation on it."

The others agreed and soon everyone was seated at the conference table, except for Sheppard, who remained in his infirmary bed. The top part of his bed was lifted and he had two pillows tucked comfortably behind his head so that he could watch and be involved in the discussion without straining his injuries further. His left hand was still in a sling, his right forearm tightly bandaged, and all those in the room also knew about the bandages wrapped around Sheppard's chest and left shoulder, hidden under his scrubs.

Elizabeth looked around the conference table and noticed an empty seat. "Where's Dr. Beckett?"

"Oh, he's gone to retrieve some data that I need in order to do some analysis," Rodney informed her off-handedly.

"Thank you, Rodney. Right, I say we begin without him and someone can fill him in later about what we discussed after our meeting. Now where were we?" Elizabeth said.

Teyla gazed at Elizabeth and replied, "I believe we were discussing the power of love in order to defeat these 'ghosts'. If this true, then perhaps all those who are experiencing these attacks could tell these 'ghosts' that they are loved."

Jack looked up at the Athosian and gave her a sheepish smile. "I don't think it's going to be that simple, Teyla." Despite the difficulty of the subject matter, he then proceeded to tell them in greater detail everything that had happened between him and the phantom Charlie.

When he had finished, Sheppard said simply, "Somehow, I can't imagine telling Sumner that I love him. He was my CO, but there was no love lost between us." He admitted frankly, looking disturbed by this.

Rodney nodded from where he was seated. "Sheppard's right, I don't think that would work for me either. No way am I able to say that I love Brendan Gall! Hell, I barely liked the man!" Rodney confessed. "Don't get me wrong, I never wanted him dead, heck, I was trying to save the guy when Brendan shot himself."

At that moment, Carson Beckett arrived, hobbling on his crutches, bearing with him the data disk that McKay wanted. "Sorry I'm late, everybody. Here's what you wanted, Rodney," he said as he pushed the disk towards Rodney, letting it slide on the smooth table top towards the astrophysicist.

"Oh, good, I've been waiting for it!" said Rodney as he grabbed the oncoming disk before it fell onto the floor and quickly inserting it into his tablet.

Carson nodded, "Aye, I know, Rodney, you're been nagging me for it for the last two hours, but I've patients to attend to, and I didn't have time to compile it until now." With a grimace, he sat down gingerly, before lifting his cast leg carefully with both hands and placed it on the footstool that was set out ready for him. "So, what did I miss?"

"We'll fill you in later, Carson." Elizabeth stated, wanting to move on with the meeting. "Rodney, Radek, did you receive the names of all those who were attacked by these ghosts?"

At this query, Radek nodded. "Yes, thank you, Elizabeth. We're being doing some analysis of it, as far as we know all those who were attacked..."

"...Have the ATA gene," Rodney butted in, looking up from his tablet, ignoring the look of annoyance that Zelenka shot his way.

Elizabeth folded her arms and looked towards Beckett for confirmation. "Is this true, Carson?"

Beckett sighed and nodded. "Aye, Rodney and Radek are correct. I checked the medical records, all those who were attacked have the ATA gene. But what I don't understand is, why didn't I and numerous other people with the ATA gene experience the first attack?"

Rodney turned to look at Carson then back at his tablet again, briefly tapping some data with his stylus, before stopping to speak to them. "Yes, yes, I might have an answer to that in a moment, Carson, I'm still working on it. But let's get down to the basics, shall we? First off, what do we know about these phantoms, hmm?"

The astrophysicist now held his tablet with one hand and a wireless remote device with another. He waved both of them around as he stood up to speak, walking back and forth, clearly taking control of the meeting. "We know that they all started appearing and attacking some of us with the ATA gene at 12 midnight. In each case, the phantoms disappeared after having managed to inflict one injury on their intended victim. At first, from personal experience, I originally thought that maybe these ghosts or phantoms somehow needed to draw human blood before they disappeared..."

"Yes, like ghosts from old vampire stories," Zelenka chipped in helpfully.

"But they didn't," Rodney continued, "as we shall see here." He turned to press the wireless remote-control device in his hand and frowned when nothing happened.

"Watson, my good man," McKay addressed Dr. Radek Zelenka, "why isn't the LCD screen working?"

Radek looked up from his own laptop before turning his gaze towards the computer monitor that he had set up on the infirmary wall. "Oh!" his eyes widened as he suddenly recalled the source of the problem. He quickly scrambled to the side of the wall to plug the power switch in.

"Sorry, Rodney, I forgot power," he said apologetically.

"Hmmph..." McKay stated giving Zelenka an unimpressed look.

"Watson?" Weir lifted an amused eyebrow.

"McKay's wearing his Sherlock Holmes' hat," Sheppard explained from his bed, giving them a wide grin. "I would have personally gone with Magnum P.I., but Rodney prefers Sherlock for some reason... Don't ask me why, maybe it's a Canadian thing."

"That's because Magnum PI is more well known for using his _gun _rather than his _brain_, which _some _people _here _seem to take after." The astrophysicist shot Sheppard and Ronon a disgusted look. "Sherlock, on the other hand, is world famous for his prowess at using logic and astute observation to help solve mysteries. Basically, he's a genius like me, someone who uses his brain rather than brawn," McKay huffed smugly.

"Sherlock Holmes?" Teyla asked looking puzzled. Ronon also leaned forward in curiosity, obviously eager to hear what this was all about.

"A fictional Earth character of the late 19th early 20th Earth century — legendary for his detective skills in solving unsolvable mysteries that the local authority couldn't handle," Sheppard explained to his two alien team mates. He had to remember to order some Sherlock Holmes movies at the next Daedalus run.

"And I'm Dr. Watson!" exclaimed Zelenka proudly, pointing at himself, his chest puffing out slightly.

"Dr. Watson?" Ronon asked curiously, crossing his arms and folding them together across the table. This sounded interesting.

"Sherlock Holme's invaluable partner who helps him solve those unsolvable cases," Radek explained, beaming with pride as he pushed up his steel framed glasses onto the bridge of his nose.

"So we see," Weir said, looking amused at the antics of McKay and Zelenka.

"Anyway, as you were saying, Sherlock?" Jack O'Neill asked, studying McKay impatiently. The man who stood before them certainly did not look anything like Sherlock. In fact, he looked ridiculous with his facial bandages. He never liked or respected the scientist, not after he found out how McKay had been willing to sacrifice Teal'c when the Jaffa had been trapped in the Stargate at SGC a few years back. Although he read the mission reports from Atlantis, he still wondered what Sheppard and the others saw in the guy. However, Jack knew that McKay was smart, so he was willing to hear him out.

"Yes, yes, my point is, in the first attack, all it took was for one injury to be inflicted before the ghosts disappeared. It didn't matter what type of injury: cuts, stabbings, burns, as long as some form of physical injury occurred on the intended victim, only then did the ghost depart," Rodney explained. "Let's consider our own injuries that we received during the first encounter: Sheppard got stabbed in the shoulder, me, I got shot in the ear, and you, O'Neill, you got your hand burned. All a single injury before the the ghost vanished. Here, take a look at this."

McKay activated the remote device in his hand and a statistical chart appeared on the overhead monitor, showing a list of all the injuries that everyone suffered in the first attack.

Carson shook his head in surprise. "Bloody hell, Rodney, I treated many of these people myself, but I never even knew there was a pattern there."

Rodney smiled smugly. "Hmmm, ingenius isn't it? That's why they call me brilliant, Carson. You were too busy treating the injured, not looking for a clue, understandable, given the circumstances. If you know what you're looking for, and have my keen sense of observation, it's as clear as mud."

"Good job, Rodney." Sheppard piped out from his bed. "Sherlock Holmes, mud detective."

"Yes, I do believe I rival Sherlock himself." McKay beamed, obviously pleased with himself and ignoring Sheppard's latest jibe. "However, when these ghosts started to attack a second time, just before the break of dawn, we get some really interesting results. Here's the second set of data." Another chart appeared, this time everyone could see that a change had occurred. "Well, can anyone spot the difference?" Rodney asked eagerly.

Teyla turned towards McKay. "We have a greater number of people experiencing the second wave of attack?"

"Exactly!" McKay said enthusiastically.

"So? This means... what?" Elizabeth asked still puzzled.

"There's a pattern there if you can just see it!" Rodney crowed.

"Cut to the chase, McKay, just tell us what you know," Jack was getting more than a little impatient now.

Sheppard however was staring curiously at the figures, trying to see the pattern that McKay saw. "Hang on, wait a second," he interjected, holding up a hand as he frowned and squinted at the figures. "I noticed that you placed the names of the people injured in the first attack and those in the second. Like Teyla said, the number of people experiencing the second attack have increased. But what's interesting is that all the new people affected in the pre-dawn attack either got only _one _injury or none at all, whereas most of the people who encountered both attacks varied from no new injuries to at least _two _injuries..."

"Bingo!" Rodney smiled. "Give the Colonel a banana!"

Ronon looked at Teyla at the strange earth reference but the Athosian only shook her head and shrugged her shoulders; she too did not understand these people sometimes.

"Which means?" Ronon finally asked.

"Which means that the list of injuries was increasing incrementally with each new attack. This is obvious especially for those who experienced _both _the mid-night and the pre-dawn attacks. From the reports I read, all those who sustained two injuries in the pre-dawn attack, stated that the ghosts vanished as soon as the second injury was received. And, I might add, they all vanished before the break of dawn. I think I'm included in that group. I couldn't figure out why Brendan's ghost didn't finish me after he punched me until later, that's because he had already given me _two _injuries — so he had to disappear. But going back to my point, take that ghost girl who had attacked Major Lorne, I heard the marines say that she disappeared as soon as the glass splinter struck him in the back — it also occurred before dawn."

"He sustained two injuries that included a cut to the cheek," Sheppard added, remembering how the phantom glass had gone through his own body to hit the major.

"Exactly! However, Sumner's ghost didn't disappear until after dawn had arrived. That's because it was still trying to inflict a second injury on you, Sheppard," Rodney continued.

"In many ways, we were lucky as less people were injured because all these phantoms couldn't complete their attacks before dawn," Zelenka explained.

"Therefore, having different injury totals but the pattern was still there. Excellent deduction, Rodney," Weir said in an approving tone.

"Yes, well... don't thank me just yet, there are still a couple of things that I have to figure out..." McKay said a little subduedly, which surprised O'Neill. The scientist turned back towards his tablet studying it once more.

"But there's more," Elizabeth stated, knowing the scientist well enough to state it as a comment rather than a question.

"Yes, of course, Dr. Weir, we're only at tip of ice-berg," Radek agreed.

"Right," Rodney interjected. "First, we need to find out what's causing the appearance of all these ghosts; second, how to stop them."

"That gentlemen, is why you're here." Weir said, leaning forward on the table as she clasped her hands together and aimed a determined look at the two scientists. "I have every confidence that you'll be able to work it out. From the reports that we've received, these ghostly phenomenons are also getting more violent with each new attempt. So far there have been only two fatalities, relatively few, considering how many attacks we had. However, as far as we know, the most violent of attempts seem to be targeted towards Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne. Now, I'm talking about the injuries inflicted, not the attacks that occurred."

Rodney objected to this observation. "Elizabeth, two of our people were killed by these so called ghosts. And while I haven't received the reports of how they actually died, unless I'm mistaken, and I rarely am, wouldn't you say that the facts speak for themselves? After all, how much more violent can you get if the intended victims are no longer in the land of the living?" The sarcastic bite in his voice was obvious.

"We lost two people?" Sheppard asked darkly from his infirmary bed, his countenance disturbed by the news.

"Aye, Colonel," Beckett replied sadly. "However, I got the autopsy report back from Dr. Biro, which I handed over to Dr. Weir earlier this morning. Sorry, Rodney, I hadn't had time to include it in my report to you yet, but according to Dr. Biro, Sergeant Larkins died from a fall from a flight of stairs, which unfortunately broke the poor bugger's neck. There was no external force or unexplained wounds on his body, unlike those received by Sheppard, Lorne, O'Neil, or even by yourself, Rodney. I would hazard a guess that he was likely trying to get away from whatever ghost that was chasing him, when he tripped and fell. The source of his death appears to be accidental, but it was an accident nonetheless."

"And Dr. Hallington?" Zelenka asked.

Carson sighed. "Dr. Hallington's death was caused by a heart attack, probably resulting from the shock at seeing whatever ghost that had visited her. I can only ascertain this from the fact that she too had the ATA gene. She wasn't in the group who experienced the first attack. I took the liberty of accessing her medical file and it seems that she had a history of cardiac arrests in her family. So while the ghost may have had a hand in attributing to its cause, it wasn't directly the result of her death, if you get my meaning. In fact, going through all the list of injuries that I treated to date, most people started out with relatively minor injuries: cuts, bruises, burns, broken bones, minor concussions, nothing substantially dangerous or life-threatening unlike those experienced by Sheppard and Lorne. And as each attack seems to be accumulative, increasing in the list of injuries and perhaps its intensity, I would say that over time, these attacks are meant to kill."

Sheppard frowned. "Actually guys, I wasn't too badly injured in the second attempt, sure my right arm was cut, but Sumner didn't manage to injure me as badly as he did the first time. If it hadn't been for Lorne, pushing me out of the way when he did, it might have been a different story. But each attacking phantom appeared only capable of hurting its intended target and nobody else."

At this statement, Rodney's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, Sheppard?" No one in the room had witnessed what had happened between the two men and the ghosts that had attacked them. As Sheppard and Lorne had been unconscious by the time help arrived, nobody knew about this yet.

Sheppard sighed and told them what had happened, how the phantom knife had gone through Lorne's back, yet it didn't seem able to harm him; how he himself had experienced the sliver of phantom glass going through him, and how it hadn't harmed him either. Rodney asked Sheppard specifically to describe where Lorne had been hit by the ghostly dagger, and about his own brush with the phantom glass. He nodded and entered the information into his tablet, murmuring "Hmmmph... interesting..." to himself.

"Actually, I wouldn't call that second attack as harmless, Colonel. At the end of the day you almost died as a result of it. You ripped your sutures open again, almost bled to death and somehow sustained internal injuries that we had to patch; not to mention that your heart had stopped beating," Carson argued the point.

"Which brings us back to the question, why are Sheppard and Lorne experiencing the most violent attacks?" Jack stated calmly. "I mean, being stabbed by a glass splinter in the back was as bad as it could get. Almost as bad as your first shoulder wound, Sheppard. I know, as I was trying to stem the bleed on both of you."

Dr. Zelenka cleared his throat at this stage. "I ... er, believe I may have an answer about Colonel Sheppard, it's because..."

"Sheppard has the strongest Ancient gene among us! He also inherited his naturally, unlike some of us who received it through Carson's gene therapy," Rodney cut in smugly, taking the thunder out of the Czeh scientist's announcement.

"I do not understand," Teyla observed. "What about Major Lorne?"

Rodney opened his mouth to argue the point, then closed it again with an audible click. "Good point. I haven't figured that out yet, but I'm sure I will, like I said before, there's got to be a pattern or reason here somewhere."

"And what about General O'Neill? He also has the Ancient gene that's actually stronger than mine," Carson stated, "Why wasn't he more injured? And he wasn't even injured in the second attack."

Rodney frowned, clearly annoyed that he didn't have all the answers. "What am I? Answer man?" he retorted sarcastically.

"From where I am, yep, you appear to be him," Sheppard observed with dry humor. He was feeling a little tired by now, but he refused to let Carson see it, the last thing he wanted was to be kicked out of this meeting just when it got interesting. He tried to repress the oncoming yawn but failed miserably.

"Well, I haven't figure that one out yet either," Rodney snapped in annoyance,  
"But I will, I just need some time to figure it all out." He looked back at his tablet, ignoring everyone for the moment as he observed something and began to manipulate the figures once again.

"You only have until 12 midnight, McKay," O'Neill observed.

"I know that, General. Don't you think I know that?!" the scientist shot back bitingly, his attention still focused on the data in his tablet as he worked frenziedly on some scientific calculation.

Suddenly, Rodney stopped pacing, look up from his tablet and astonished blue eyes stared at everyone in excitement. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa! I think I'm able to pin-point the source of where all this is coming from!"

"How? Where?" Zelenka asked before anyone else could.

"It's elementary, my dear Watson," he said smugly, imitating Sherlock Holmes' tone and mannerism. "I've been inputing the data of where each attack occurred and the name of the person involved, I then overlapped it with a map of Atlantis," he tapped on his tablet and the remote switch and the monitor above them changed to show them the city's aerial chart.

"By plotting each attack and their position, I managed to define a radius of the first attack." A multitude of colored dots representing each ghostly attack appeared over the aerial chart of Atlantis. All within the room observed that they were grouped to a particular area, covering part of the city.

"Now, this is how it looks after I inserted the data from the pre-dawn attack." Another map replace the first chart, this time a new set of dots in a different color overlapped the colored dots of the first attack. Everyone saw that the wave of ghostly attacks had doubled in size like a growing ripple, now covering half the City.

"It has the same point of origin!" Weir observed in excitement as she realized what this meant.

"Exactly!" Rodney crowed superiorly. "Notice that the wave has now doubled from its original size. As the infirmary wasn't inside the wave of the first mid-night attack, it explains why Carson and some of the others with the ATA weren't affected. However, the interesting thing is, see these two small anomalies here?" The image on the screen changed to reveal a wider-scale map that included both the City of Atlantis and part of the mainland. Everyone saw two small dots showing up in the mainland where the Athosian people lived.

Weir frowned. "Corporal Green and Dr. Walker?" she questioned Rodney. So far, she had been aware of only two ATA gene personnel who had gone to the mainland after the midnight attack. She had received an urgent transmission later that night from Teyla's people, requesting a doctor to be sent to them to help out with a complicated birth. Although both men had only suffered minor scratches in the first attack, they had volunteered to go when Weir informed them of the urgency. Later, she received word from the team informing them that attacking ghosts had also appeared in the mainland going after the two men. It was fortunate that they both managed to evade them until dawn arrived, and therefore weren't injured.

"What does this mean?" asked Ronon.

Rodney turned towards the Satedan, giving Ronon an impatient look. "It means, Conan, that distance and location doesn't matter anymore once you've been selected as the unlucky victim for these ghosts."

"So what's the point of origin, Rodney?" Weir asked impatiently.

Rodney turned and stared at Radek Zelenka wordlessly. Radek didn't know why Rodney was looking at him so oddly and started to feel nervous

Rodney finally replied, "Zelenka's lab."

oOo

TBC

_AN: Phew, that was a long chapter! So, what did you think? Hope everything made sense. There's information that had to be explained for the progress of the next chapter._


	9. Sniffing Ghosty Clues

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Looks like this tale is going to be longer than 10 chaps, I've miscalculated the length as usual...Oopsie! But still it's going to be shorter than Minds eye, and should complete first. _

**9: Sniffing Ghosty Clues**

Dr. Razek Zelenka was dumbfounded, flabbergasted, mute as a mummified mummy, with the exception that his mouth gaped open and close soundlessly like a fish out of water. All he could do was stare in frozen silence as Rodney 'Sherlock' McKay's words penetrated through his shocked and bewildered mind.

McKay in return folded his arms together, jutted his lower chin forward and stared frostily back at Dr. Radek 'Watson' Zelenka. He waited for a response from Radek. When he saw that none was forthcoming, he scowled and finally asked, "Well, care to explain yourself, Radek? Whatever have you been touching that you weren't supposed to touch, huh?"

His question seemed to break Radek out from his shock-like trance, making Zelenka blink once before he started to swear colorfully in Czech while waving frustrated hands in the air.

Dr. Elizabeth Weir shouted at him, "Dr. Zelenka! Radek! Focus please!"

The command seemed to reach the flustered scientist as he looked at Elizabeth wide eyed. He combed agitated fingers through thin, ruffled hair and rested his hands on the top of his head. Forcing himself to calm down, he finally took a deep shuddering breath, blinked a couple of times behind his steel framed glasses, then lowered his arms and shrugged. "My apologies, Elizabeth, Rodney, everyone... I swear, I do not know how this came about! I touched nothing! But I want to find out!" Turning to Elizabeth, he said in a pleading voice, "If you would excuse me please, I wish to go to my lab immediately!"

Elizabeth lifted an amused eyebrow. "Yes, I think that would be prudent, Radek."

Rodney was also looking impatient. "Elizabeth?" he asked, looking for permission to leave the room too.

Teyla and Rodney stood up at the same time; they both appeared eager to follow the two scientists to Zelenka's lab.

"Yes, yes, you are all dismissed. Go find out what's in Zelenka's lab and report back to me as soon as it's appropriate," Weir said. "We'll reschedule another meeting later in the day."

The two scientists rushed out from the infirmary as if they had fire under their heels. They pushed and shoved each other trying to get out of the door first, giving the other annoyed looks and death glares. They were followed closely by Ronon and Teyla who both looked at the antics of the two scientists in amusement.

At a more causal pace, Jack O'Neill remained seated in his seat for a while longer, fiddling with his pen and twirling it around. Then he looked up, took a glance at Weir, gave her brief grimace and uttered, "Oh for crying out loud! I think I'll follow those guys to Zunka's lab."

Weir smiled. "Zelenka," she corrected him. Jack lifted both eyebrows. "Right. Yes. Him! If you're excuse me, Elizabeth?" he said looking at her amused smile and replying nod.

"Well, I'll catch ya later," General O'Neill said as he stood up and hurried out in the wake of the others. O'Neill had barely left the room when Elizabeth's attention was distracted by the voice of an annoyed Chief Medical Officer chastening a certain Lt. Colonel.

"Bloody hell, Colonel! What do ya think you're doing?!" Carson quickly hobbled towards Sheppard on his crutches, placing a restraining hand on the Colonel preventing the pilot from getting out of his infirmary bed.

John who was now sitting outside the sheet's covers with both feet dangling at the side, was caught in the act of halfway trying to get out of bed. He looked up sheepishly at the Scottish doctor and whined, "Aww, come on, Doc! I want to see what's going on too!"

Elizabeth had to hide the smile that formed at the corner of her lips. Sheppard at that moment sounded exactly like a petulant ten year old child.

Carson also repressed a smile as he reached out a hand to give Sheppard a sympathetic pat on an uninjured shoulder. "Aye, I know you do, lad, but you're in no condition to go romping around on ye own just yet."

Sheppard opened his mouth to protest but when Beckett saw what was coming, he frowned darkly and spoke sternly before the pilot could utter another word. "Colonel Sheppard, if you don't get your butt back to bed immediately, I'm going to stick my largest needle in that arse of yours that'll not only put ya straight to sleep, but you'll remain sleeping for the next 24 hours!"

Sheppard looked at him in aghast. "Doc, you won't!" he squeaked loudly.

Beckett folded his arms together and glared back at him. "Try me! Besides, don't think that I didn't see that yawn you were trying to hide from me not so long ago, Colonel. We've got a deal, remember? I only agreed that you could attend this meeting because you agreed to take it easy. So no over exertions, your body needs to rest, son. You've had enough excitement for one day. Now get back under those covers or do you want me to call for the nurse to get that injection that I spoke about?"

Sheppard didn't need to be told twice as he quickly scampered back into bed, grunting slightly in pain as the movement aggravated his injuries. He looked disappointed and guilty at the same time. Carson calmed down considerably when he saw the Colonel safely back in bed again. He smiled at Sheppard, reached out and gave John's unruly hair a pat as if he was a little kid or a house pet and said approvingly, "That's a good lad."

John frowned and looked up quizzically at the hand on top of his head. "Hey, I'm not a kid, Doc!"

Carson smiled. "Well, if you're gonna behave like one, you'll gonna be treated like one!" he quipped. Then he took the remote, pressed the button and lowered the top half of John's infirmary bed to a more horizontal position so that Sheppard could rest properly.

"So, Colonel, do ya promise to behave?" he asked Sheppard, giving him a gentle smile as a dimple formed at the corner of one cheek.

Sheppard nodded, suddenly feeling like he was five instead of his true age. Damn all overprotective mothering Scottish doctors.

"Good lad," Carson replied as he took Sheppard's IV line and began fiddling with it.

Weir came up towards Sheppard's bedside. "Don't worry John, we'll keep you informed of what's happening. Listen to Carson and take this opportunity to get some rest; we'll include you in our next meeting once we hear back from Rodney and Radek."

Elizabeth saw unfocused hazel eyes dulled with pain medications gaze up at her as he nodded sleepily. She suspected that Carson had inserted something into the Colonel's IV line that would help John sleep. "Thanks..." he mumbled, leaning his head back onto the pillows, adjusting himself a few times in order to get into a comfortable position before closing his eyes.

"I think I'll get a little shut-eye now. By the way, Doc, don't think I didn't notice you putting something into my IV line. For a doctor, you're very sneaky, did ya know that?" Sheppard whispered drowsily. Silence filled the room for a few minutes before Elizabeth heard soft snores coming from Sheppard's slumbering form.

Carson looked up at her and smiled reassuringly.

"He's going to be all right, love," he whispered softly so as not to disturb his sleeping patient. "I just gave him a wee something that would help him sleep better. That way, it'll ensure that his body gets the rest it needs in order to heal faster. He should be awake again in about two hours."

"Thank you, Carson, that's good to hear," Elizabeth replied with brief smile and an understanding nod. "Well, I have other duties to attend to. I might also drop by later to visit Major Lorne. When John awakes let me know, we'll schedule another meeting then." She look one last long look at the sleeping form before leaving Sheppard under the watchful care of Dr. Carson Beckett. As she left, she thought that the Lt. Colonel's slumbering features made him look much more younger than he was.

oOo

Jack O'Neill heard the animated voices of Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Radek Zelenka arguing fervently with each other long before he entered the lab of the Czech scientist. At his arrival he looked questioningly at Teyla and Ronon wondering what was going on. Teyla, the Athosian woman, gave him a polite smile before explaining to him that Rodney and Radek were currently having an argument about which strange device arranged on the long bench of Zelenka's table could be the cause of the ghostly attacks. She explained that Zelenka's lab currently housed several aliens items all of which had been recently retrieved by various SGA off-world teams. These devices were still sitting in Zelenka's lab, waiting to be cataloged, analyzed and examined by the scientists. The problem now was determining which one was causing all the trouble.

With his hands in his pockets, O'Neill strode towards the clutter of alien devices eying each one curiously.

"If you have trouble deciding, I say that we get rid of them all." This suggestion came from Ronon Dex who was casually leaning his back against a wall. He folded his arms across his chest and eyed the two arguing scientists with a mixture of amusement and impatience in his stance.

Rodney paused in the middle of a half spoken sentence to Radek and stared in horror at the Satedan. "What?! Are you crazy? Do you know what invaluable scientific discoveries you're suggesting we destroy?! Of course, you don't! With that Neanderthal's mind of yours, you _would _suggest something like that! Well, if human beings continued with that sort of mentality, Ronon, we'll still be in the Dark ages!"

"Dark ages?" Ronon looked at Teyla for an explanation, but the Athosian simply lifted her eyebrows and shook her head.

Jack ignored everyone as he eyed the row of strange items on the table. Without thinking, he reached out and picked up a small device, taking a closer look at it. He had obviously forgotten that the last time he had touched an alien device, he ended up sharing memories with a barber. However, just at that moment McKay turned around and caught him in the act.

"Hey hey hey hey! What do you think you're doing, General O'Neill? Put that back down instantly and don't you dare touch anything!" shouted Rodney as O'Neill guiltily placed the item he was holding back on the table again. Jack looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Rodney scowled at O'Neill furiously for a second or two. _Didn't the General know better not to touch anything?!_ As he stared at the man before him, an idea suddenly formed, making blue eyes widen as he turned back towards Zelenka and snapped his fingers.

"I've got it!" he said, shooting piercing blue eyes at the Czech scientist.

"What? What is it? Have you found alien device causing ghost attacks?" Radek asked curiously.

McKay frowned. "No, not yet, but I know how we can narrow down our search!"

"How?" Radek approached Rodney, eager to hear what his boss had to say.

McKay stared at him. "Why didn't I think of this first instead of arguing with you?" he asked himself crankily.

Both Radek and Jack looked annoyed that the astrophysicist hadn't revealed anything yet. "Rodney, if you don't tell us know what you know, so help me... I... I..." Zelenka broke into a string of Czech curses.

"Sherlock!" McKay quipped, "Call me Sherlock, Dr. Watson. Because that's what I am, the greatest detective in the Pegasus galaxy! What we need is to narrow down our search to all the alien devices that were brought to Atlantis in the last three, no, make it four days ago."

Zelenka looked at Rodney puzzled. "Why? Shouldn't it be yesterday? Didn't all attacks start at midnight?"

Teyla narrowed her eyes as she approached the two scientists, suddenly realizing where this was leading. "No, Rodney's right! That's when John started experiencing his disturbing dreams, I remembered you mentioning it too, Rodney," she said, her voice betraying her excitement.

"Exactly!" exclaimed Rodney with single finger snap pointing at the Athosian, delighted that Teyla caught on so fast. Of course, with Zelenka not being in on the conversation that they had in the infirmary, he couldn't blame his assistant for not knowing the obvious.

"Actually, that's something that we didn't get to chance to ask the victims in the midnight attack." More multiple finger snaps followed as he gestured for Radek to come closer. "Make a note, my dear Watson!"

At his command, Radek hurriedly removed a small PDA from his pocket and looked up ready for Rodney's instructions. "Yes?"

"Job for you, my good man. I'm sure my observation will be correct, after all, I'm rarely wrong, but I need you to question all those involved in the first wave of attack. A good detective always backs up his hypothesis with solid evidence to support his theory, it's call undeniable proof. Ask them whether they experienced any nightmares for several nights in a row and the date when these nightmares started. Also verify whether these nightmares involved the same ghost that attacked them at midnight. It's my assumption that all their replies are going to be a resounding 'yes' and that their nightmares all began at the same time too."

Radek nodded his head and noted it down in his PDA. He then looked up and frowned. "It'll take me some time to question so many people, Rod...er... Sherlock."

"We can help," Ronon said from his corner. Teyla looked at the Satedan and nodded. "Yes, it would give us something to do."

Rodney considered their offer then snapped his fingers again. O'Neill thought that the scientist was doing a lot of finger snapping lately. "Actually, I've changed my mind." When he saw the odd looks that Teyla and Ronon gave him, he said, "What? A scientist... ahem... great detective is allowed to change his mind, isn't he? It's nothing against the rules, is it? Actually, I have something better planned. I don't think we need three people to question all the victims, one should be enough. Also, we don't need to question everyone, pick a few at random, if you get the same answers each time, it's enough to justify my theory. But if you get different responses, then by all means question more people, as many as possible, as I'll need to analyze the pattern then. Radek, I think I could use your help here, Teyla or Ronon can question the people for the answers we need."

Ronon shrugged his shoulders and looked at Teyla for confirmation whether she wanted to do the task, after all, he wasn't much for talking. The Athosian nodded and spoke up. "I shall do the questioning of these people for you, Rodney."

"Good good, thank you," Rodney replied. "Oh, while you're at it, Teyla, also ask them what the ghosts said to them, both in the first and second attacks."

"Yes, Rodney," Teyla said as she left the lab.

Rodney didn't notice her leaving as he turned and looked at the tablet that he held in his hand. "Hmm, let's see, I know that we've been running a little behind with cataloging and analyzing alien devices..." he muttered softly to himself.

O'Neill looked surprised at the Head Scientist. "Oh? That doesn't sound like the McKay we know," he said sarcastically.

Rodney glanced at him and scowled. "Um...what? Yes, well it's not often you'll find the scientific department behind in their work. Most of the time, we're very efficient, General, but we've had some of our personnel down with the flu lately, plus many of us were busy trying to fix the plumbing emergency that we had last week..."

He glanced back down towards the screen of his tablet again.

"Hmmph, according to our records, our off-world teams have been having a good run recently with retrieving alien artifacts from ruins found in numerous worlds. Interesting. I see that three off-world teams brought back artifacts four days ago, they would be ... ah yes, placed over here." McKay strode over to the appropriate table and glanced at the three alien items left there waiting to be analyzed: one looked like a medium sized rock with multi-colored spikes jutting from the top of it; the second a cube-like device with black shiny surface on all sides; and the third a silver metalic S shaped item, which looked a little like a snake.

All four men stared at the devices on the table in silence.

"Well, do you know which one is it?" Jack finally asked, breaking the silence.

"What do you I am? Psychic?" McKay snapped in annoyance, his scowl was back. "I'm trying to think here..."

"Nope. But if you're Sherlock, you're use that acute observation skills of yours and come up with an answer," O'Neill sheered. "Time's a wasting, McKay."

"Oh yes, remind the scientist that he has a ticking clock, how original of you, O'Neill. Hmmm... that didn't come out quite right. But needless to say, yes, General, I'm very well aware of our deadline, thank you very much," Rodney grumbled as he looked at the alien devices. Then, he froze and abruptly looked up to stare at Jack.

O'Neill could see that McKay was giving him a strange look - one that made him feel as if he wasn't going to be happy about what the scientist was going to say next. "What?" he finally uttered.

"Whoa! Wait wait wait wait!" Rodney gasped, his speech getting faster and louder in his excitement. "I think I know how we can ascertain which one it is, but there might be some risk involved. I'm afraid I'm going to have to volunteer your services, General O'Neill."

Now it was O'Neill turn to frown as he looked at the Head of the Scientific Community suspiciously. "What? Why me? Do you know what he's talking about here, Zunka?" he shot a look at Radek.

"Zelenka," Radek said a little annoyed. "The name's Zelenka, General O'Neill, or Dr. Watson if you prefer. And as for Rodney, I ... uh...um... No."

"Oh. Right. Sorry about that. Zelenka, got to remember that," Jack apologized.

"So..." Rodney said as he placed his tablet down on the table top and folded his arms in front of his chest impatiently before glaring challengingly at Jack. "What are you scared, General? Actually, I'm thinking that out of all of us here, you'll be the safest bet to test out my theory... As for Sheppard, Sheppard would be the worst."

O'Neill's frown deepened. "Right. Yes. Well, spit it out McKay, I hate riddles. Geez, do all scientists talk like this?"

"Hmm? Well yes, my plan is simple: I want you to touch each of the device, carry it in your hand and let me know if you sense or feel anything strange," instructed Rodney.

Jack lifted both eyebrows in surprise. "That's it? Previously you told me not to touch anything..."

"Yes yes yes, I know what I told you," Rodney replied testily. "This time, I've changed my mind, I want you to go ahead and touch them."

Jack emulated Rodney's stance, folded his arms together and glared back stubbornly at Rodney. "Why?" Somehow he still found it difficult to trust the scientist.

Rodney sighed. "Because General O'Neill, whatever it is, I'll say that it was activated by the Ancient gene. And as you have the strongest gene amongst us, other than Sheppard of course, it's likely that it may react to you in some way," he explained.

"Also, since you managed to defeat ghost that visited you, if you touched it, it would less likely harm you," Radek added helpfully, catching on quickly.

"Exactly! Thank you, my dear Watson!" Rodney beamed in satisfaction. Zelenka flashed a pleased smile in return.

O'Neill looked at the two scientists, then shot Ronon a look, the Satedan simply shrugged his shoulders and looked at Jack expectantly.

"Okay," he finally quipped casually. "So which one should I touch first?"

Both Rodney and Radek looked at each other. "Anyone, General. You have the pick of the crop," McKay finally replied.

Jack frowned slightly looking at all three alien devices. He took one last glance at McKay then muttered softly, "Okay, here goes nothing..." as he reached and picked up the silver S shaped device in his hand. It felt a bit like a Goa'uld zat gun, but it was smaller and weighed lighter. Jack stared at it for a moment, turning it around, looking at it, feeling the strange patterns in its texture, frowning sightly.

"Well?" Rodney asked eagerly. "Do you feel anything."

O'Neill frowned. "Like what exactly?" he asked.

"Oh I don't know. Vibrations, heat, cold, something, anything!" Rodney spluttered out impatiently.

Jack looked back at the item in his hand for a moment longer, Rodney and Radek leaned forward a little closer towards him in eager anticipation. Then he said casually, "Nope," and placed the item down on the table again.

"Oh, okay. Well, pick up another one then," Rodney instructed, sounding a little disappointed. Jack grimaced, stared at the two remaining items then on impulse lifted the black cube shaped object off the table. It was about the size of Jack's hand. Its surface felt smooth and cool to the touch, almost like glass. However, it's weight felt solid and well compacted, almost like iron, but slightly lighter.

"Well?" This time it was Radek who asked eagerly.

O'Neill lifted an eyebrow at them, he looked bored before saying, "Nope, naddah, not a thing." He placed the black cube device back on the table again.

"Okay, well it's got to be the last one!" Rodney finally said impatiently. As Jack reached out a hand to take it, McKay stopped him.

"What?" Jack said, looking puzzled. Anxious blue eyes met dark brown ones.

"Just... just be careful, Jack. If you sense anything untoward occurring, any sense of discomfort or unease, just let it go immediate." Rodney advised.

Jack found himself feeling a little wary now. If he didn't know any better, McKay seemed concerned over his safety. That didn't seem like the Rodney McKay he remembered back in SGC who was willing to risk lives in the name of science. "I thought you said that this thing wouldn't be able to harm me?" he questioned, frowning slightly.

"Well, in theory, it shouldn't. However, it's still better to play it safe rather than sorry. It is after all, an alien device that we are dealing with here. They're unpredictable." Rodney replied off-handedly.

"Great! What about the other two that I just touched and held in my hand?" Jack grumbled, but nevertheless he reached out and grabbed the last item on the table. The strange rock-like artifact with colorful spikes poking on the top of it didn't feel any different than what it looked like - a rock with colorful spikes poking out for it. It felt a little heavy and the texture of the rock felt a little uncomfortable on his hand, but other than that, there was nothing unusual about it either.

"Well, General? How do you feel?" McKay asked in eager anticipation.

Jack looked up at him and replied, "Peachy!" before placing the rock back with the other two alien devices. "I felt nothing, McKay. It didn't work."

Rodney frowned. "What? But it has to, that doesn't make sense!" He looked back down on at his tablet and picked it up to analyze the data on it. Zelenka leaned across to see what McKay was doing.

"Maybe device had already activated, therefore O'Neill touching it would do nothing else to it," Zelenka offered an explanation.

"Yes, yes, that's possible. Don't you think I haven't considered that?" Rodney replied analyzing his data. "However, with something that seemed to react so strongly to our ATA gene, I thought... well, let's say I hoped that we could determine the source sooner by my method instead of wasting time trying to analyze all three of them. After all, even if we identified it, we still have to find out why it's doing what it does and a way to shut it off, and that'll take time, Radek, something that we seem to be running out of."

While the two scientists spoke, Jack turned to see what Ronon was doing. The Satedan, he saw, was eying them with folded arms and looking somewhat bored. He knew how the Satedan felt. This was getting them no where.

"Well, as soon as you managed to figure it out, let me know. I'll be in my quarters," Jack said, getting bored and deciding that he could do with a little nap. Thinking about science always made him sleepy.

Rodney ignored him as he still continued to study the data on his tablet frowning darkly.

Suddenly Ronon stance changed from relaxed to alert as he unfolded his arms, straightened and pointed towards the alien device on the table, "Is it meant to do that?"

Rodney looked up, Jack turned around, and Zelenka gasped. On the smooth glass-like surface of the black cubed device, shimmered a blue handprint where Jack hand touched it. It pulsed slightly while a slight energy hum emanated from it.

oOo

TBC

_AN: Ah yes, the common cliche of blaming it on an alien device... But yeah, cliche is one of the challenge requirements of this tale, so hopefully it works._


	10. Solving the Mystery

**The Ghosts of the Atlantis**

**10: Solving the Mystery**

The blue handprint on the cubed device did not last long, appearing only for a few seconds on the smooth black surface, before disappearing as if it had never been.

"That's it! I think we've found our culprit!" Rodney crowed in excitement. "Quick," Rodney snapped his fingers to Ronon and Zelenka, "One of you, carry it to that empty table over there!"

Both Zelenka and Ronon looked at each other then turned suspiciously back at Rodney. "Why?" Ronon asked.

"Because neither of you have the ATA gene, so it won't react to you! And I want to examine it more thoroughly without it accidentally reacting to all the other devices cluttered around here," Rodney explained impatiently. Ronon shrugged then picked up the black cube and placed it to where Rodney wanted it.

Once it was placed at the center of the table, Rodney carefully reached out a hand to touch it. The device immediately gave a strange low hum and a red handprint appeared. The reaction send the scientist and all the others scrambling backwards again.

"Er, what just happened there?" O'Neill asked, taking a peak back at the alien device a little nervously.

"Hmm, fascinating," Rodney commented. Excited blue eyes turned back to O'Neill and the others to provide an explanation. "I believe that the device reacted differently to me than it did to you, Jack. When you touched it, your handprint appeared blue. I think the colors indicate that you're no longer affected by these 'ghosts' or whatever they are. Didn't you say that the ghost Charlie left by itself after you spoke to it? That it didn't try to attack you afterwards?"

"Yep, what of it?" Jack replied.

"Well, how did you make it leave?" McKay asked curiously, before pausing to say, "Let me rephrase that, what did you do differently this time to make it leave?"

Jack thought back to what had happened, remembering how he felt, the words he had spoken and how the ghost Charlie had reacted to his words. He also remembered how it had reacted to his feelings and his inner thoughts. Being an intensively private man, he really didn't want to speak about something so personal and reveal it to McKay of all people. However, he knew what was at stake here; his information might help the scientist solve the problem the Atlanteans were having. It might help save lives and to Jack, that was all that mattered. His dislike for McKay and his own personal discomfort would have to take a back seat. Once he came to this conclusion, he took a deep breath, looked at McKay and told him what he had felt and thought in a cold emotionless tone. It was better to act stoic, he didn't want the scientist to see how hard it was for him to speak about it.

The others listened in silence until he had finished speaking. Rodney nodded, blue eyes stared intensively at him for a moment, then the scientist cleared his throat as if he was aware of how uncomfortable O'Neill felt. In a soft voice, he thanked Jack, saying nothing more.

The four men were soon back crowding around the table again, taking a closer look at the alien device.

"So? Now what are you intending to do about it?" Jack finally asked.

Rodney looked up and smirked. "What I always do, find a way to save the city, or at least our people in the city. After all, I'm genius aren't I? But if you must know, I'm going to figure out what the alien device does and hopefully find a way to deactivate it."

Jack frowned. "We already know what it does, it causes dead people to reappear and attack us, or did you just forget that?"

Rodney shook his head and sighed. "No, no, we need to figure out the _reason _why it's reacting this way, there must be a purpose for the device to do what it does. Hmmph, if there's someway for us to have a history or a bit of background to this device, it might help."

Rodney suddenly looked up and clicked his fingers. "I got it! Radek!" he turned to his assistant, "Who was the team who found the device?"

Zelenka quickly went to his laptop and typed in a query. "Major Lorne's team," he replied.

McKay smiled. "If I recall correctly, wouldn't Major Lorne's team carry a digital video recorder with them?" he asked.

Radek nodded. "I believe that's standard procedure for all off-world exploratory missions."

"Good, good." Rodney rubbed his hands together with glee. "See if you can track down the recording disc, Radek."

"Why not just question Lorne's team?" Ronon asked.

"No, I need to see the actual site where this device was found. It might give us a clue to its purpose, maybe there might be some kind of written text there or something that might be give us more clues. It'd also save us time of not having to make a gate trip there ourselves."

"Time that we are running out of," Jack observed.

"Yes, yes, so you keep reminding me, O'Neill, and something that I've very well aware of, thank-you very much," Rodney remarked bitingly. "But you do have a point, Ronon. Go see if you can track down the marine who took the video footage, I'll probably have questions for the man."

oOo

Three and a half hours later, everyone was back in the partitioned area of the infirmary turned into a makeshift conference room. By now Sheppard was awake again and looking much better after having rested. He was eager for news on what had been happening since the last meeting. Ever since waking up, which was an hour and a half ago, he had been bugging Elizabeth and Rodney continuously on his intercom about the latest news, so much so that Carson had to hobble across on his crutches to remove the intercom from his indignant patient by force.

"They need to work, lad! Will you leave them be?! I'm sure that once they find out anything important they'll inform us immediately," Carson reproached the Colonel. The Scottish doctor looked tired, and Sheppard, seeing the weary and pained look in Carson, had the grace not to argue any further.

So for the next hour or so, after having lunch, Sheppard had been restlessly sitting in his bed, trying to entertain himself and failing miserably. When Ronon came to keep him company for a while he had brightened. However, after telling him all that had happened in the lab, the conversation had ended in silence. After all, the former Runner was not much of a conversationalist, and as Ronon didn't fall for his jokes or his snark, unlike McKay, things got pretty boring after that. When Ronon left, Teyla dropped by to see how he was doing, it was another good distraction for Sheppard. She questioned him about his dream and told him that Rodney asked her to question others who had experienced similar attacks. Despite being uncomfortable to talk about it, he told her what was required as briefly as he could. Teyla nodded, took down notes and left soon after. With nothing else to do, Sheppard decided to take a short nap before the next scheduled meeting. He dropped off for a while and was woken up by a nurse fiddling with his IVs.

A little while later, his team started to wander back into the infirmary again. They greeted him cheerfully when they saw that he was up and looking better. Once everyone was seated at the conference table, the meeting started promptly. This time, Rodney brought along the alien black cubed device with him, which he managed to get connected to his tablet.

"Should that thing be here, Rodney? Is it safe?" Carson asked, looking nervously at it. He had heard from Ronon about the device when the Satedan was reporting back to Sheppard about what had happened.

"Huh? Oh yes, yes. It's already been activated four days ago, so whether it sits in Zelenka's lab or here, it makes no difference." Rodney replied.

"Well, Rodney, why don't you begin by telling us what you've discovered so far," Weir instructed.

Rodney looked up from his tablet and the alien device. "Yes," he cleared his throat. "As you all now know, this little device is the cause of all our problems lately. It was found four days ago and brought back to Atlantis by Major Lorne's team."

"The day the nightmares started," Sheppard noted from his infirmary bed.

"Exactly," Rodney beamed. "I got Teyla to do some questioning and it seems that everyone who was attacked on the first night, started having nightmares exactly at the same time too."

"But why start with nightmares first? Why didn't these phantoms, ghosts or whatever they were, start attacking people straight away?" Elizabeth asked, puzzled.

"Yes, yes, Elizabeth," Rodney noted a little impatiently, "I'm getting to that. According from what I managed to decipher, the artifact takes time to power up. The nightmares that our people have been experiencing are actually induced by our alien friend here. It builds upon the guilt of the human psyche to power the phantoms to make them more powerful and aggressive."

"Why? For what purpose?" Sheppard asked, frowning slightly as he recalled the guilt he experienced over the death of Sumner.

"Well, after questioning Sergeant Stilles, who was part of the team who retrieved the alien device, and looking at the recorded footage that was taken, I managed to conclude that the device actually came from a penal Colony. This was where the Ancients used to sent their most hardened criminals, and I'm talking about murderers here."

"I didn't know that the Ancestors had criminals," Teyla said, looking a little disturbed by this fact.

"Hmm, yes, well obviously all societies no matter how advanced they are, have their own group of undesirables."

"A prison world, that would explain quite a bit," Weir mused softly.

"Quite ingenious really as to how the device works. Once it's activated, it latches upon the subconscious of the prisoner and enhances their guilt towards a particular death they feel connected to. Unfortunately it doesn't really determine guilt, only partial guilt, whether the person is actually guilty of doing the deed is a different story. The reason all of us can see these phantoms is because the victims' families were allowed to watch the prisoners project out their own guilt and be killed by their own demons."

"That is would explain why when I questioned those affected in Atlantis, almost everyone said that the ghosts screamed that the reason they were there was because it was the fault of the victims themselves," Teyla commented.

"Yes, so I've noted too. Gall blamed me for him being there," Rodney observed.

"So did Sumner," John added, looking a little disturbed. "He kept screaming out '_I am here because of you._'"

"Aye," Carson agreed. "Perna kept on saying _'It's all your fault that I'm here.'_"

"And in essence, they were," Rodney explained, "All our ghosts are the result of the projection of our own minds. The device enables the appearance of a physical manifestation of whomever the prisoner feels responsible in some way for their death. Once the 'ghost', for want of a better word, manifests itself and targets its victim, these phantoms act on the prisoners' subconscious and bombards them with increased feelings of guilt and despair to the point of wanting death at the hands of whomever they feel they responsible for. After all, let's think about it, what better retribution than for the victim's family to watch their killer being killed by their own victim's hands? You could perhaps see it as some kind of ironic justice."

"In very a sick kind of way," Weir observed softly, with a disgusted look on her face.

"But if these ghosts are the figments of our own subconscious or imagination, how come they can hurt us?" Carson wondered. "All the injuries we suffered were real, Rodney. And these things almost killed Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne."

Radek who was feeling left out of the conversation, took this opportunity to answer Beckett's question. "It stimulates the brain's synapses into believing that injury is real. Therefore, any injury given to prisoners by these phantoms will physically manifest themselves on their bodies."

"However," Rodney interjected, overriding Zelenka when he was about to continue, ignoring the evil look shot his way. "...Only the phantom of each individual can harm the person whom it latches on to. Like I said, quite ingenious how it works." He looked at the cubed alien device sitting on the table before him.

"So, the device manipulates the power of its victim's mind, if you believe that something is real enough, it can cause the body to react to the perceived injury?" Weir asked as a small frown formed in between her brows.

"Yes," Zelenka hurriedly answered again, wanting his moment in the light. "That's exactly what we're saying, Dr. Weir. There are still many mysterious to the human mind that we don't know about. For example..."

Rodney cut in, "There have been medical reports about certain patients suffering from multiple personality disorders experiencing a reactive change in eye color when a different persona overtook them. Scientifically speaking this isn't possible, but the power of the human mind is still a mystery to many of us. That's why I call medical science, voodoo science, things are not tangible enough to call it science."

At that statement, it was Carson's turn to shoot Rodney an evil look, which the scientist brazenly ignored.

"Like the Matrix," Sheppard stated loudly.

Rodney crossed his arms together, jutted his lower chin forward and gave John a small frown which soon turned into a tentative lop-sided smile as he thought about it. "Hmmph... why is it that you always have to use metaphorical examples from the movies? But yes, if you want to put it in simple terms, Sheppard, it's exactly like the Matrix. When people were killed in the Matrix's holographic world their minds believed that they were dead, therefore in the real world, their physical bodies also died."

"I _think _therefore I _am_?" Elizabeth said, lifting an amused eyebrow.

Rodney smiled smugly. "In a manner of speaking, you could say that."

"Except for Neo," Sheppard said again. "He didn't die, he could control his environment."

"Yes," Rodney agreed, "That's because his mind was powerful enough to reject the computer generated reality and create one of his own."

"So basically what you're saying is that our own minds are creating these illusions which are physically manifesting themselves, allowing them hurt no one else but us?" Carson clarified.

"Huh... Didn't I already say that? Or weren't you listening?" Rodney finally snapped impatiently.

"_Gentlemen..._," Elizabeth warned.

Rodney turned to face Elizabeth, his features now looking irritated. "It's _not_ me, it's Dr. Voodoo-science over there."

"Now, look here you arrogant, little man..." Carson retorted back.

"_Rodney! Carson! _Focus please!" Elizabeth's pointed glare directed at the two of them, shut both men up.

Rodney finally sighed, took a deep breath and continued with his explanation. "Look, what I'm saying is the stronger the ATA gene ingrained in the individual is, the more real the physical manifestation would be. After all, it's Ancient technology that we are talking about here."

"And also the more violent too?" Sheppard commented.

For the first time since the meeting began, Rodney looked a little uncertain. "Perhaps, I'm not sure about that, but I think it actually depends on the individual involved, how much guilt one has over the death of someone else. I think for you, Colonel, the ghost of Sumner was particularly violent because, well, while I hate to admit it, Colonel, but you _did_ after all pull the trigger that killed the man."

"_Rodney_, you _know _that Colonel Sheppard had _no _choice in the matter!" Elizabeth chided, coming to Sheppard's defense.

"Yes, yes, of course I do," Rodney spoke up, "I'm _not _saying that what the Colonel did was _wrong_, it was the right thing to do, after all, even Gall killed himself after he was partially fed upon by the Wraith. No, what I'm saying is that subconsciously, I don't think Sheppard has forgiven himself for what he did, and until he does so, this phantom will have power over him."

"_He _is sitting right _here_," John said a little irritated and very much uncomfortable that his friends were having a discussion over how much guilt he felt over Sumner's death.

"But what about General O'Neill? He only arrived a day ago on board Daedalus, he wouldn't have been affected by the dreams. How come he was affected by the first attack?" Teyla wondered.

Rodney turned to look at Jack, just to clarify the fact. "Did you dream about your son before you came to Atlantis?"

"Nope, slept like a baby."

Rodney nodded. "Well then, first off, O'Neill has the ATA gene and by default the most powerful among us except for Sheppard. Secondly, in the first encounter, the phantom of Charlie didn't really injure him seriously now, did it? Not unlike Sheppard whom we found almost bleeding to death in his quarters. So, with the device not being able to work on his subconscious three nights before, it allowed O'Neill to retain enough cognitive rational ability to be in their presence and suspect that something wasn't quite right."

"It did?" O'Neill lifted his eyebrows as if surprised to hear Rodney's statement.

"Well, think about it General, at the infirmary you asked me whether these were real ghosts. Also, I believe you pointed out that the longer we were in their presence, the more guilt we felt over their deaths."

"I did?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes, I believe you did," Rodney replied.

"I heard it," Ronon said as he leaned back against his chair.

"Not me..., I didn't hear it," Sheppard said, frowning slightly and wondering when all this had happened.

"That was because you were in surgery being operated on by Dr. Beckett, John," Teyla helpfully explained.

"Oh," Sheppard said, then grimaced at the thought.

"So that explains how Jack managed to 'defeat' his ghost?" Weir asked.

"Yes, even though he bore some guilt over his son's death, er..." Rodney paused, as he suddenly realized that he was now stepping upon a sensitive topic. "I'm sorry to say this, General..."

Jack however waved his hand dismissively, "Say what's needed to be said, McKay."

Rodney turned back towards the others. "Yes, well, while he still bore some guilt enough for the phantom to hurt him slightly, inwardly he _knew _that Charlie would never really be able to harm him. After all, as we discussed in our last meeting, love is the most powerful human emotion, the love a father has for a son and vise versa would be enough to overcome even emotions of artificially enhanced guilt."

"Perhaps, General O'Neill also had enough time to make peace with himself over his son's death," Teyla added calmly. "After all, I do recall O'Neill saying that the accident occurred more than ten years ago?"

Jack nodded and then said loudly, "Right!"

Everybody turned to look at him. "What?" he said. "I was just stating a fact. I had enough time to put Charlie's ghost to rest. I know my son well enough to know that if it were him, he wouldn't harm me, and I told 'it' so."

"What about Major Lorne?" Carson asked suddenly. "I took the liberty to check up his records. According to his file the young lass that our people saw was actually his kid sister who drowned a couple of years ago. It was an accident, he had nothing to do with it, although he certainly feels guilty enough as he was at the beach when the drowning occurred. Yet, somehow, the ghost of that wee child harmed him as badly as Colonel Sheppard. Do you have an answer for that Rodney?"

Rodney thought about it for a moment, looking at the data on his tablet. "Well actually I do, and I must say that it's all rhetorical at the moment, so I can't say for sure say how accurate I am at this."

"Spit it out McKay," Sheppard said a little impatiently.

"Actually, it relates to you Sheppard," Rodney turned towards John and looking a little uncomfortable now.

"Me?" John said, suddenly feeling that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"Yes, remember how you told us that Lorne got in the way of the Summer's knife that stabbed through his back? Well, I compared the records that Carson gave me earlier regarding Lorne's wound. From the description of what you told me had happened, Sheppard, there's a very strong possibility that where the glass splinter had stabbed him was in the same region where Sumner's knife had gone through him earlier. And from the data of what I've managed to analyze on the alien device, there can sometimes be an overflow of psychic energies, especially if someone is within close proximity of the person being bombarded by feelings of phantom guilt. Because Lorne was standing so close to you at the time, Sheppard, even though Sumner's knife didn't harm him at the moment of entry, there was actually some later repercussions which resulted in the glass splinter hitting him close or perhaps at the exact same spot where the Sumner's knife entered."

Sheppard looked grim. "So it's mine fault that Lorne was hurt as badly as he was," he stated softly, his hazel eyes flitting towards his hands.

"No John, you're _not _to be blamed for this," Elizabeth said sternly as she turned to look at her second in command.

"Dr. Weir's right, Sheppard, if it's anyone to blame, it's that damn alien device," O'Neill added.

Sheppard didn't say anything else, but continued to look grim. Rodney felt like kicking himself knowing that inadvertently, he had just made his friend feel worse. "Actually, by the same default, Lorne was also responsible for your own close call, Sheppard."

John looked up puzzled by the scientist's statement.

"Say again?" It was Carson who asked the question, while rubbing at the cast of his wounded leg. The limb was aching quite a bit.

"Well, when the glass splinter went through Sheppard's back, he said that he felt a coldness in his chest. You mentioned in your report Carson that you had to fix some internal bleeding and injuries that you found in Sheppard the second time you took him to surgery. I think that the phantom glass splinter caused it, which possibly led to Sheppard's heart stopping later. Although he didn't feel it at the time, there were repercussions, it only took a while for the damage to make itself known. At least that's my theory anyway," Rodney said, folding his arms together and looked at the rest of them.

"So have you found a way to switch it off?" Weir asked as she leaned forward and crossed her arms, echoing McKay's actions.

Rodney now looked down and frowned. "No, not yet, there's a lot of data all written in Ancient which I could use some help in translating, Elizabeth."

"I'll come over to your lab and see what I can do to help, Rodney, but we might not have enough time to decipher it all. We only have until midnight, that's when the next apparitions will start attacking again." Elizabeth stated.

"Actually, that's something that I do not understand. Why do the ghosts only appear at night? Particularly midnight and just before dawn? Sounds like some kind of creepy Dracula story if you ask me," said Sheppard.

Rodney looked down once again at his tablet, reading the data there. "I might be able to answer that. According to what I managed to decipher from the device, the Ancients believed that the mind was most susceptible to outside influences during these hours, that is, midnight and pre-dawn. Also, you've got to understand that even though they were Ancients, they were human in many ways, which meant that they're fallible. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that they had their own beliefs or superstitious of their own concerning ghosts and all that other mumbo-jumbo that went along with it."

"While this is all very interesting, we're running out of time. As you haven't found a way yet to switch off the alien device, any other suggestions on our course of action?" Weir asked.

"I say we destroy it." This suggestion came from Ronon.

"Oh, you would say that, wouldn't you?" Rodney replied, "Do you know how much valuable Ancient data we would be destroying if we did that? No, we can't do that. What we have here is a rare opportunity to study something that practically uses the power of the human mind, imagine the possibilities if we could learn from it, tap into it and use it correctly?"

Weir nodded before looking up at Rodney, "I'll give you two hours more to try to figure it out Rodney. If you can't turn it off by then, we're going to destroy it."

oOo

_TBC_

_AN: OK, I know I'm writing 'In the Mind's Eye', but I'm going to concentrate on getting this one done first, so my other story will resume once this is completed. _


	11. Playing with Fire

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Many of you mentioned more mayhem at the end. Whatever gave you that idea? (Blinks innocently) LOL. Many thanks for all the reviews! The bunnies were doing a happy dance and decided to serve you a dish of an early update._

**11: Playing with Fire**

Rodney looked at the time and cursed aloud. So far all attempts to shut down the alien device had met with failure. Weir had followed Rodney back to the lab to help with the some of the most difficult translations that he was having problems with. She had only recently returned to her office to catch up with some other work that demanded her attention. They were making progress but not fast enough for Rodney's liking. Although he also had Zelenka's help, the two scientists still couldn't find a way to shut down the device. Looking at his watch and knowing that he was running out of time, Rodney leaned back against his chair, crossed his arms and scowled darkly at the black cubed device.

Radek approached him and observed, "You know, Rodney, scowling at it is not going to help us any. Here, have this," he said, placing a plate in front of McKay.

"Yes, but it makes me feel better," Rodney snapped. Then he looked at what Zelenka had placed before him. On his plate were three pieces of turkey sandwiches, some french fries, a carrot cake and a nice bunch of grapes. Rodney lifted his eyes towards Zelenka in surprise.

"After our meeting, Sheppard asked me what you had for lunch, I remembered that I didn't see you eat anything. He told me to ask Cook to whip up some turkey sandwiches for you, it seems she owes him a favor. He said you'll like them. So I took the liberty to go down to the mess hall to get it for you," Zelenka said, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose before turning away to go back working on his laptop.

"Sheppard likes turkey sandwiches. I don't mind them but thanks," he stammered, feeling strangely touched to discover that there were people looking out for him and quite disturbed by the fact to realize that he had been so involved in analyzing the alien device that he had actually forgotten to eat, something that he had _never_ done before! Even when Sheppard had the iratus bug stuck on his neck, he never forgot about food and his blood sugar level. It was a basic survival instinct, ingrained into him as much as breathing. He wondered whether it was the result of being so close to the vicinity of the alien device. Was it trying to affect his mind in some other way, perhaps? Did it know that he was trying to find a way to deactivate it? It was not a comforting thought, and one that he really didn't want to think about.

He positioned the plate in front of him and quickly began to dig in. Pretty soon, he was stuffing his face with large greedy bites of fries and turkey sandwich. He realized that his blood sugar level was low, evident by the slight tremors on his hands. He needed the food before he went into hypoglycemic shock. No wonder he couldn't think straight; sometimes his condition could be most annoying at the most inappropriate time.

An hour later, Rodney and Radek were having an indepth discussion of how to develop a backdoor infiltration program into the Ancient alien device when Jack arrived with Ronon in tow.

"Time's up, boys. I'm here to make sure that the device is destroyed."

"What?" Rodney asked as he looked at the two men and then at his watch, suddenly realizing that the two hours were indeed up. "But... I know that we can do this! If you'll just give us a bit more time, I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out."

"Nope, you've had your chance, McKay. We're not taking any more chances, it'll be evening soon, it's time for that damn thing be out of here," countered Jack, nodding for Ronon to do the deed.

"What? Are you just going to shoot it?" Rodney asked a little alarmed.

"You have a better idea on how to destroy it?" questioned O'Neill lifting his eyebrows.

"No, no, it's just seems so... barbaric, that's all." Rodney stated weakly as he and Zelenka began to back away from the bench table, coming to stand next to Jack and Ronon.

Jack nodded at Ronon, who took out his blaster, set it to 'Kill' and shot at the alien device.

As the energy blast hit the device, a green forcefield appeared around the black cube device causing the Satedan's weapon fire to bounce off and scatter across the lab. Everyone urgently scrambled for cover in order to avoid becoming dead meat from Ronon's ray gun.

Once the coast was clear again, Jack cautiously stood up, looked at the undamaged alien device and aimed an accusing glare at Rodney. "What the hell just happened?!" he yelled, clearly annoyed, marked by the deep scowl on his features.

"Looks like the device has some sort of protective shield that prevents it from being destroyed," Rodney said, very much surprised by this new development.

"Oh for crying out loud! Well, any ideas how we go about destroying it then?" Jack asked.

"How about we try good old fashioned way?" suggested Radek, bringing out a large hammer.

Rodney looked at it. "Hmm, it might actually work, maybe the shield only works on blasters, energy rays, that sort of thing. Here give me that!" Grabbing the hammer from Zelenka, he approached the alien device again.

Zelenka stood a few feet away as Rodney took a deep breath, lifted up the hammer, squeezed his eyes shut and slammed the hammer down on the black cube device with all his might. Just at the moment of impact, a green forcefield appeared and Rodney's hammer bounced off the alien device, flew out of his hand and landed on the top of Zelenka's shoe.

The Czech scientist gave out a loud shriek and started hopping about on one foot, screaming and cursing aloud in Czech. He finally sat himself down on a stool while massaging his injured foot and scowling angrily at McKay. "I think you've made pancake of my big toe!" he accused his boss.

Rodney looked stunned and flabbergasted. "I... I didn't know it was going to do that! The hammer sort of flew out of my hand at the moment of impact! Not my fault! Besides, you were the one who gave me the hammer! You shouldn't have done that!" He paused, approaching closer. "Are you... are you all right, Radek?"

"No!" replied Zelenka, his face screwing up in pain. "I think I need to go see Dr. Beckett. This is _thanks_ I get for bringing you lunch!"

McKay had the grace to look ashamed.

Jack tapped on his comlink. "This is General O'Neill to Dr. Beckett, I think you need to come down to Zelenka's lab. There's been a little incident."

oOo

There was now a large bandage around Radek's big toe. The trauma to the Czech's toe had resulted in a painful contusion but otherwise he was deemed fit for duty. He was now wearing one shoe and one slipper.

"You should be okay, lad. Nothing to worry about. You're lucky that the hammer didn't land on someone's head, it could have killed somebody. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the infirmary." Carson said, taking his crutches. Before he left, he paused and shot a nervous glance at the alien device. "My advise is, don't hit that thing with any more projectiles." Then he left, hobbling out of the lab.

O'Neill put his hands into his pants' pockets and stool on the balls of his feet. "Well, that went well... Any more great ideas?"

"Hey, don't look at me, it was Mr. Toe-brains over there who passed me the hammer in the first place," Rodney replied defensively.

"Why you ungrateful little man..." Radek retorted back, his gaze shooting daggers at the scientist.

Rodney ignored Radek now that he knew that the Czech scientist was going to be all right. He turned to look at Jack as an idea formed, then snapped his fingers. "Actually, yes, I think I actually do have an idea, and it's a more intelligent option than what our friend Radek suggested earlier. If I recall correctly, there was an alien device in SGC that SG1 needed to destroy in a hurry. The same solution might actually work for us..."

He turned back to Radek. "Zelenka, you best stay here with that injured toe of yours." Then he addressed the Satedan, "Ronon, please pick up the device and follow me."

Ronon put his blaster back into his hostler, strode forward and did as McKay requested. "Where are we going?"

"To the gate room," McKay said, tapping on his comlink. "This is Dr. McKay, get ready to dial up the gate," he ordered the tech on the other side of the comlink.

"Where to, sir?" came the reply.

"It doesn't matter, anywhere, take your pick. We'll be there in a few minutes, just get ready to dial the gate when I give the word," Rodney instructed as he followed O'Neill and Ronon out from Zelenka's lab.

Before they arrived at the gate room, Rodney gave instructions for the tech to start dialing the gate. They arrived just in time for Rodney to instruct Ronon to throw the alien cube device into the explosive plasma of the newly activated wormhole. What better way than to let one of the greatest force of nature destroy it? Rodney thought smugly to himself. When the event horizon settled down calmly again against the Stargate, there was nothing left of the alien device.

All three men stood there, looking at each other, standing silently in the room.

"So, that's it?" Ronon asked, looking at the now activated Stargate.

Rodney looked up. "Yes. I think so." He turned back towards the Canadian tech and said, "You can shut the gate down now."

As the gate deactivated, O'Neill said, "Nice job, McKay."

A lop sided smirk appeared at one side of Rodney's cheek. "Yes, it was a rather good idea, wasn't it? Of course it was originally the idea of Colonel..." He didn't complete his sentence as the comlink in his ear activated and he heard Zelenka speaking to him. "Rodney, please return to lab immediately."

"Why? What is it?" he asked.

"I think it's best if you saw for yourself," came the reply. "I also think you should bring General O'Neill and Ronon with you."

oOo

When Dr. Carson Beckett hobbled back to the infirmary again, his leg was aching terribly. So far, except for their conference meetings, he hadn't had much time to rest his injured limb. Now, he had to inform Colonel Sheppard about what had happened in Zelenka's lab as the Colonel was awake when Carson had received O'Neill's call.

Like Carson himself, Sheppard had been worried, wondering who had been injured. Both of them had been relieved to hear Jack say that the mishap in the lab was minor, relating to a hammer hitting Dr. Zelenka's foot. However, if he knew Colonel Sheppard, the man would be anxiously waiting news from him and expecting him to report back to him all that had occured.

True to form, as soon as he reached the infirmary, John called out to him with a "Well? What happened, doc?"

Sighing to himself, he informed the Colonel about the two failed attempts to destroy the alien device.

"I see," Sheppard said, giving a small frown as his right hand rubbed against his chest. His ribs and chest must still be very sore, Carson suspected. The doctor wondered whether the Colonel was recalling his close encounter with death not so long ago. However, Carson knew John well enough to know that the man must be worried about his next encounter with Sumner, especially if Rodney and the others failed to destroy or deactivate the alien device. It was exactly the same way he felt about Perna. God, he so didn't want to experience that screaming phantom again. He couldn't bear the thought of it and it made him shudder.

Somehow, his own worries must had shown through for Sheppard looked up at him and said in a concerned tone. "Hey, you okay, doc?"

Carson nodded and smiled weakly, "Aye lad. And you? How are you holding up?"

John stared at him and gave him an unreadable smile. "I'm fine," he muttered softly.

Carson saw through the lie instantly even though Sheppard didn't reveal it in his expression. Beckett understood exactly how the Colonel felt. The man was scared. He didn't want to face another encounter with a murderous phantom from his mind; to have to experience the darkness of his own guilt bearing down on him, wanting to destroy him. The feeling was mutual. Carson himself feared his next encounter with the ghostly Perna. The emotional pain of each encounter seemed worse, more enhanced each time. He feared that he might not have the strength to fight against his own demons. He wished that nobody would have to experience that again.

However, despite knowing what they both felt, he played along with Sheppard's lie and his own. Smiling sadly at the man, he said, "That's good lad. Well, if you need anything, just holler."

Sheppard smiled back at him and said, "Sure doc."

Carson felt like a coward as he hobbled away from Sheppard to head back towards his office. If he couldn't talk to Sheppard about their demons, how the hell was he going to defeat the ghostly Perna if she came visiting him again? he wondered.

oOo

Zelenka was standing in the lab waiting for them, his arms crossed together as he leaned against the lab table.

"Well, what is it, Radek? Couldn't it wait?" Rodney enquired impatiently. They could have learned so much from that Ancient device and Rodney was frustrated with himself that they had to destroy it. However, at least everyone else on Atlantis would be safe tonight, no more ticking-clock on a deadly countdown. He could also look forward to having a good dinner in the mess hall tonight. "Elizabeth will be waiting to hear our report that we've destroyed the alien device."

"Probably not a good idea Rodney," said Zelenka grimly.

Something about Radek's voice and stance made Rodney pause. "Why? What's wrong?" His eyes narrowed as he suspected that something was up.

Dr. Zelenka limped away from the table. Sitting on the table behind him was the black cubed alien device.

"What the...?" Rodney and the other gasped in surprise. A curse came out from Jack's lips while Rodney looked at the alien device in shock. Ronon simply frowned at it.

"Looks like we still have problem in our hands," Zelenka said sheepishly. "It appeared a few minutes ago. Just materialized in a big green light, then puff it was there."

"I don't believe this!" Rodney exclaimed, looking at the alien device in shock and admiration. "Looks like the device has some sort of defensive teleportation built into it. It registered that it was about to be destroyed by the gate's wormhole, so it activated its shield and teleported itself back to the lab!"

"Yes, I figured as much," replied Zelenka.

O'Neill frowned. "We still need to get rid of it, McKay. Anymore suggestions how?"

"How about if we opened the Stargate to an uninhabited planet and just throw it in?" This suggestion came from Ronon.

"I'm not sure whether that would work, Ronon. Somehow I get the feeling that once it has been initiated, it doesn't matter how far away you are from the device. Remember Corporal Green and Dr. Walker who were away on the mainland during the second wave of attack? They were attacked by phantoms even though the second wave hadn't reached the mainland. I think that once you've been a victim of these attacks, how far you're are to the vicinity of the device doesn't really matter anymore." Rodney explained worriedly.

"Crap," O'Neill said.

"Yes, I believe that crap is right, General." Rodney agreed.

oOo

TBC


	12. Race Against Time

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Hope that all you readers had a great New Year! My apologies for not completing this tale before Christmas as I kinda struggled getting the next chapter up (me thinks I got a case of writer's block), then I was away during the Christmas break. However, I didn't forget about you guys and after staring at the blank page for a while, I finally cracked the whip at the naughty plots bunnies and placed them all in the sweat house until they delivered! lol. Hopefully you guys are still interested in this. Also thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys rock - and keep me going at this!_

**12: Race Against Time**

"Well, Rodney, I don't mean to put any undue pressure, but at this moment, we're counting on you to figure out a way to deactivate the device before midnight tonight. A lot of lives are depending on it, including your own. Do you think you can do it?" Weir asked. Everyone was gathered together for another conference meeting at the infirmary.

"Given enough time, I'm sure I can," answered Rodney.

"The problem is Rodney, we're running out of time," Elizabeth noted.

"Why does everyone keep reminding me of it? Don't you think already I _know _that?!"

Elizabeth smiled wryly. "Yes, we do. Sorry Rodney, it's just that we also have to make contingency plans on what to do if you are unable to switch off the device in time. After all, this _is _an alien technology that we are talking about here."

"I thought of that," Rodney looked up and snapped his fingers. "Someone without the ATA gene should be assigned to Sheppard. I don't think he should be left alone, and I don't think he's in any condition to fight off any ghost if it reappears again."

"I'll stand guard tonight over Sheppard," Ronon volunteered.

"Good," Rodney replied.

"Hey!" Sheppard protested, feeling insulted by Rodney's statement. "I'm not an invalid you know..."

"Of course not, John, but you're injured and Rodney is right, you're not up to a fight with Sumner. You'll need someone to watch your back," Elizabeth said reassuringly to the Head of the Military contingent as he leaned back on his pillow and scowled.

"Yes, it's always best to play it safe rather than sorry, after all you only have one life, Sheppard, so why take risks, hmm? Actually we should probably get someone to watch Carson's back too. After all, he has the ATA gene too, and also myself, preferably some large Rambo-type marine with fast reflexes and lots of muscles," Rodney replied, blue eyes looking up at Weir.

"We don't have enough marines to cover everyone, Rodney," Elizabeth replied, "Many of the marines themselves will need watching as they have the ATA gene from Carson's gene therapy."

"I can watch over you, Rodney," Zelenka offered.

"What?!" Rodney replied, turning back to look at his assistant horror. "_Hello? _Weren't you listening? I specifically mentioned _Rambo-like attributes_, remember? And with that broken toe of yours, you won't be able to run fast, much less protect me!"

Zelenka frowned. "It's not broken, Rodney. And I don't need to run, only push you out of way when Gall wants to shoot you."

"Actually," Elizabeth quickly interjected before the conversation got out of hand. "I think it's a good idea, Rodney. After all, you two will be working together trying to deactivate that cube device. Besides, we don't have enough people to spare, Rodney. So you should be thankful that you have Radek looking out for you."

"Oh great, as head of the Scientific department, I end up with Mr. Wimp for a protector! Well, if I turn up dead, you know who to blame!"

"_Rodney!_" Weir said in a warning tone that meant no further insults or arguments from the scientist.

McKay knew when to keep silent, but all could see that he wasn't happy about the arrangement. Radek sat crossed armed and frowned darkly, grumbling under his breath in Czech about an ungrateful scientist who deserved to have his ass kicked.

"I will stand guard over you, Dr. Beckett," Teyla volunteered, bowing her head politely.

"Why thank you, Teyla," Carson replied, touched by the gesture. It made him feel better to know that if Perna's ghost showed up, he wouldn't have to face her alone.

There was another protest from Rodney. "Hey! If I can't get a Rambo marine, Carson, can I swap with you for Teyla instead? She knows stick fighting, she'll be more useful in a battle than Zelenka over there!" Rodney said pointing his thumb towards Radek. Zelenka by now was practically fuming; if he were a bull, he would have butted his boss' ass with his horns.

"_Rodney, I SAID that is enough!_ Besides weren't you two meant to be a team? Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, remember?" said Elizabeth.

"That was when a mystery needed to be solved! As I've already solved it, I now want either Conan or Xena to protect me," Rodney countered.

"_Rodney!_" Weir's voice high-pitched with annoyance. A last warning. It was obvious that she was losing patience with the Head of the Scientific Department. "I don't want to have to warn you again. I'm sure that Radek will be able to do an efficient job watching out for you. And as both of you will be working together in the lab, he's the logical choice."

"But Gall is _always_ shooting at me, how is Zelenka going to stop a bullet, I ask you that, huh? After all, it's not that he's muscle man!"

"Well, if you're so worried, Rodney, I'll lend you Ronon instead. I'll be happy for Zelenka to watch my back," Sheppard offered from his corner. To his surprise, he was met with a resounding "_NO!_" from Elizabeth, Rodney, Ronon and even Radek. All knew that Ronon would be able to handle Sumner's ghost better than Zelenka.

Sheppard seemed a little taken aback at seeing four determined set of eyes glaring at him in concern.

"Whoa... I was only trying to help out, guys..."

However, Sheppard's offer made Rodney embarrassed of his ungratefulness over Radek's offer. So a little reluctantly, he muttered, "No, no, Radek watching my back will be fine. Ronon remains with you, Sheppard."

"You sure about that, Rodney?" John asked.

"Yes, yes, quite sure," Rodney replied as he scowled while Radek smirked.

"Well, now that that's settled, I recommend that we set up some sort of a bodyguard buddy system for all of our people who have the ATA gene." Elizabeth suggested.

There were nods of agreement from everyone in the room.

"Will a person without the ATA gene be harmed by these ghosts, Rodney?" Carson asked curiously.

Rodney looked up. "I'm not sure about that, we haven't had anyone who didn't have it be in the position to be hurt by them before. However, it might be better to play it safe rather than sorry. Just warn everybody to stay clear out of phantom weapons if they can."

"Aye, that sounds wise." Carson agreed.

"So, now that we know that these ghosts are the projections of our minds, shouldn't that lessen the power they have over us?" Sheppard wondered.

Rodney shrugged, not quite knowing the answer to that. "Chances are, when you're in the vicinity of these phantoms, they're going to bombard you with feelings of extreme guilt. However, you do bring up a good point, Sheppard. Elizabeth, we should also warn our people that if the phantoms attack again, to remember that they're not real, and to try to fight against their feelings of guilt."

Elizabeth agreed.

"I guess that leaves me to stand guard over Major Lorne then," O'Neill said.

"Is that wise, General? After all, you do have the ATA gene, Jack," Elizabeth stated.

"If what McKay says is true, the Ancient device shouldn't affect me now," Jack replied.

"Yes," Rodney agreed, looking at Jack then at Elizabeth. "In fact, if our people can manage to somehow fight against the cube's influences, defeat their own ghosts so to speak, the device shouldn't harm them any longer. Feelings of love seem to be a very powerful emotion, so I guess if it's a loved one that you're encountering, try to think of the love you shared with the person, like what O'Neill did. If it's not a loved one, then I guess we'll just need to find a way to work out our issues and put our ghosts to rest so to speak."

Elizabeth nodded. "Okay, then I'm going to recommend all those who want to speak to Kate Heightmeyer about their respective 'ghosts' do so. Carson, Rodney, John? I'll make sure that you are the list of top priority if you want to speak to her?"

Rodney shook his head, "No, I have too much to do here." He lifted a hand and pointed a finger at himself. "Me trying to deactivate the crazy alien device remember?"

Weir nodded. "John?" she asked, looking her first in command.

Sheppard made a face and echoed Rodney's shake of his head. "You forced me to speak to her about Sumner's death when it occurred over two years ago, Elizabeth. I don't know what more I can say to her. I just need to find a way to deal with it my own way. Heightmeyer will not be able to help me."

Elizabeth frowned. "Are you sure, John? You don't seem to be doing a good job at it at the moment."

An unreadable look flashed through Sheppard's eyes. "No, I'll deal with it. As I now know what's causing it, it should make a difference."

"Well, if you need to talk about anything, we're here for you, John. All of us. You know that don't you?"

Sheppard looked a little embarrassed. He frowned slightly then nodded and mumbled, "Thanks," before looking down at his hands.

Elizabeth now turned towards Dr. Beckett. "And what about you, Carson? Would you like to arrange a session with Heighmeyer?"

Carson looked up at Elizabeth. "Perhaps later, lass, when all this is over with, but I can't afford the time right now. There are things that need my attention."

"Okay, then." Elizabeth said, folding her arms and smiling around the table. "As all three of you are going to forgo Heightmeyer's services, it'll be first come first serve basis for all those personnel who wish to speak to her. I'll let her know about it too."

"Rodney, as soon as you manage to get the device deactivated, let me know." Elizabeth stated. With those final words, their meeting was over.

oOo

"Ouch!" Rodney cried out, sucking on his little finger in his attempt to dismantle the alien cube device. "Hey! I think it just zapped me!"

Zelenka looked up from his computer laptop and gave a little smile. "I know, it zapped me too when I tried same thing an hour ago while you were away getting yourself coffee,"

"What?" Rodney screwed up his face and looked at Radek surprised. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I did, you weren't listening. I said, _'It will not work, don't try that'_, remember?" replied Zelenka smugly.

"Well, you should have warned me about the zap!" argued Rodney, clearly annoyed with his assistant.

"I decided it would be good if it zapped obnoxious head scientist in little pinky. Perhaps it would teach him lesson to treat his assistant better," Zelenka smirked.

Rodney scowled at him, decided to take a bite out from his power bar and looked at his watch. So far going two days with very little sleep was affecting him, and it wasn't for the better. It was slowing down his reflexes, making him cranky and he found it harder to think straight. Already, he had been down to Carson's infirmary to get something to help keep him awake so that he could work on trying to resolve their problem.

"Zelenka," Rodney said suddenly, his tone serious. "I don't think we'll be able to find the off-switch in time, we need to let Elizabeth, Sheppard and the others know about it."

oOo

Carson was sitting in his office with Teyla by his side. His blue eyes were anxious, darting about, before finally resting on the wall clock showing that it would be midnight soon.

"How are you feeling, Dr. Beckett?" Teyla asked calmly.

"Oh, I'm okay, I think. I must say, Teyla, I'm not looking forward for another encounter with a ghostly Perna," he finally admitted.

Teyla gave him a reassuring smile. "Do not worry Dr. Beckett, I will see to it that she does not harm you."

"Thank..." he did not manage to complete his sentence before he suddenly felt a sudden chill in the air. Then at the corner of the room, he saw the corporeal form of the ghostly Perna appear. Her face was furious as she glared at him with hatred in her eyes. In her hand, she had a set of sharp looking scalpels.

oOo

Sheppard was sitting up in his bed, playing cards with Ronon when he sensed the feeling of coldness and the evil presence in the room. His heart beat started to accelerate as he looked up and saw the ghost of Sumner materialized at the foot of his bed. Instantly, Ronon was by his side, helping him out of bed.

"Sheppaaaard!" screamed the ghost of Sumner. "I have cooooome to claim whaaaat iiiiiis mine!"

oOo

"Roooodney!" said Dr. Brendan Gall as he materialized in the lab where the two scientists were working.

Rodney's eyes widened in alarm as he looked up from the computer screen where he was working. He saw the ghostly apparition of Gall approaching him with an ugly looking dagger in his hand.

"Uh… Rodney, you might want to move your butt…" Zelenka said a little nervously as he limped towards his boss to shake his shoulder.

"Yes, yes, I see him," Rodney commented testily, refusing to budge as he frantically began typing away. "Just give me a few minutes, I think I'm almost there. I think I've almost cracked the code!"

Rodney was too busy looking at his computer screen to notice the ghost move closer. He did not see the deadly smile that Brendan gave as the ghost flashed the evil looking long knife that he had in his hand and slashed it at him…

oOo

TBC

_AN: So, how am I doing? Things might not be so good for a couple of our heroes… bwhahahahaha! _


	13. When the Clock Strikes 12

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Thank you all for your lovely reviews! Big hugs to every reviewer! Anyway, there are lots of things happening in this chapter, so pull up a chair and hope you enjoy it :)._

oOo

**13: When the Clock Strikes Twelve**

General Jack O'Neill sat by Major Lorne's bedside, attentive and ready for trouble. He looked at his watch, noting the time a little uneasily. As soon as his watch struck midnight, he looked around warily, wondering whether any ghost child would make an unwelcome appearance. However, the private room where Carson had moved the comatose Major to remained silent.

After a while, Jack began to speculate at the lack of an attack. Was it because Lorne was still in a coma that the alien device didn't seem to affect him now? He reflected on it, thinking that it was likely so. Yet, it didn't make him lower his guard. Regardless of the reason, he continued to sit with the comatose major, watching over him, his eyes darting towards the numerous machines that Lorne was attached to and all the shadowy corners of the room.

oOo

"Caaarrsooon, come toooo me... Yooouuu belong tooo me!" the ghostly Perna said. "I knnoooow you want this!"

Her blue eyes were luminous in her ghostly gaze. She was inviting him to everlasting sleep. Within it there would be an end to all his guilt, all his sorrows of failing to save his beloved Perna and her people from the deadly side effects of the inoculation that he had helped create. The lull of her call was difficult to resist. It would be so easy to go to her now. He knew that a part of him wanted to. Yet another part of him felt trepidation and fear at seeing the deadly looking scalpels that she caressed lovingly in her hands. He knew that it was all wrong, that he shouldn't be feeling the way he did, but he couldn't seem to pull his gaze away from her. Against his will, he felt himself taking a step forward, wanting to go into her deadly embrace.

Carson then felt Teyla's fingers digging painfully into his forearm, sweeping away some of guilt-ridden fog that was encompassing his mind.

"Dr. Beckett! Do _not _listen to her. She is not real! She is the projection of your mind from the alien device that Dr. McKay told us about."

"What?" Carson said, trying to tear his gaze away from the ghostly Perna and finding it difficult to do so. She pulled at his conscience, wanting him to seek repentance for causing her death and those of her people on planet Hoff.

_"She is NOT real, Carson!"_ Teyla emphasized her point, increasing the severity of her tone.

"Aye lass, aye" Carson finally muttered, this time succeeding in drawing his gaze away from the ghostly apparition. As he did so, there was a horrifying shriek behind him. Turning around, both Teyla and Carson saw sharp scalpels flying towards them.

oOo

_"Blbec!" _Zelenka cursed aloud in Czech as he grabbed Rodney's shoulders and pulled him away from Brendan's ghostly attack. It was a near miss, for at that very instance the dagger struck McKay's recently vacated spot. However, despite Radek's best efforts, the phantom knife still managed to slice into Rodney's right forearm, making a deep laceration as the scientist reached across to grab the alien cube device from the table. Nevertheless, he didn't have time to get his Tablet PC.

Rodney yelped; his breath hitching as he became aware of how narrowly he escaped death. The warm blood that flowed out from his slashed forearm pounded in beat with his wildly beating heart. If it wasn't for Zelenka's action, he would probably be a lifeless corpse by now. He felt faint and his legs started to tremble beneath him.

Looking up at the ghostly apparition that was now following them, he began to stammer, _"Oh, God, you're not real, you're not real, you're not real!" _repeating the words over and over again.

He watched in horror as the knife now transformed into a gun.

oOo

_Lorne found himself on a beach, a way too familiar beach – a beach that haunted his dreams in more ways than one. He had been here before, he knew what was going to happen and he began to run. As he ran, he heard a woman's cry; he whirled around and saw the young mother frantic with panic as her child began to choke. _

_He turned back to face the sea, torn between two choices: out there, his little sister would be in trouble if he didn't go to her, but if he didn't help the young mother, her child too would likely die. The woman's screams were turning more frantic; the child in her arms was turning blue. In shock, he saw a version of himself heading towards the woman, taking the toddler in her arms to give the little boy the Heimlich maneuver. _

_"No!" he wanted to say to himself. "You've got to save your sister! She needs your help!"_

_A familiar voice suddenly spoke behind him and he felt a smaller hand enfold his larger one._

_"No, Evan. If you didn't stop to help the child, the little boy would have died. I wouldn't have wanted that. You can't trade one life for another."_

_Lorne turned to face his kid sister. She was exactly as he remembered her, even to the little dimple on the left side of her cheek whenever she smiled. He fell on one knee so that he could look at her face to face. His two hands came to rest on her small shoulders. _

_"But I failed to save you, Elysina. I was meant to be watching you and I failed you."_

_Elysina smiled at him and a small hand came up to clasp the side of his face. "No, you didn't Evan. It was me, it was my fault; I disobeyed you when you told me to swim within shallow waters. It was my own fault that I drowned. So please stop blaming yourself, Evan. I love you. You're my big brother and I so hate seeing you sad. Promise me that when you wake up, you won't blame yourself?"_

_"How can I not?" he said, bowing his head, his long lashes lowering. "You are my little sister; I should have saved you too."_

_"No, Evan. You couldn't be at two places at once." Elysina said. "Sometimes bad things happen even to good people. It was my time to go, Evan. I'm happy where I am now, the place… it's so beautiful, and I am happy, Evan… Can you understand that?" _

_Lorne shook his head, not sure whether he could understand. _

_"Evan? Please look at me, Evan. Do you love me Evan?" his little sister asked._

_Lorne lifted his gaze and looked into his little sister's eyes. "What sort of question is that, Elysina? Of course I do."_

_"Well, if you do, then promise me something."_

_"Anything."_

_"Promise me that you'll stop blaming yourself for what happened. You saved a kid's life that day. You didn't do anything wrong. You're only human; you couldn't be at two places at once no matter how much you wanted to. If you had saved me, then another child would have died. Besides, you didn't know I was in trouble until it was too late, and when you did, you did everything in your power to try to save me. I don't want you to blame yourself for my mistake, Evan. Please… Even though I'm happy where I am now, I cannot truly be at peace until I know that you will stop blaming yourself for my death. This is why I'm here now; I'm here to save you from yourself. I never blamed you, Evan, please remember that."_

_Lorne felt confused, but her words affected him, and already he could feel his guilt draining away at his sister's pleading words._

_"Okay," he finally muttered. "Okay, Elysina…" _

_His kid sister smiled at him. "I love you, Evan. But you need to go now… you don't belong here. Remember, I never blamed you… I shall always love you, big brother."_

_With those words, his little sister and everything else faded away and he felt himself being drawn back to the sound of beeping…_

oOo

Ronon pulled Sheppard away from the long steed blade that would have slammed into his side.

"_He's not real, Sheppard!_ It's all in your head! _Fight it!_" Ronon uttered harshly.

Sheppard looked at the Satedan through a thick cloud of fuzziness, obviously caused by the combination of too much pain medications and no doubt, malicious psychic attacks from the Ancient cube device. They were affecting his reflexes and thought processes. He found it difficult to fight against the ghost's psychic influence with Carson's happy drugs making him feel loopy. He should have asked Carson to reduce his pain meds but it was a little too late for that now. Waves of guilt bombarded him; Sumner screamed to be avenged – the price of taking his CO's life could only be repaid by John's own life.

He sensed movement from the corner of his eye, but Ronon was once again his savior, swinging him away from the ghostly attack. He blinked, his body moving sluggishly, there were dull stabs of pain from his various barely healed injuries as the Satedan half carried him while they made their way across the infirmary floor. Turning his head, he saw that the ghostly apparition of Sumner was following close at their heels; the long blade swinging and slashing at them.

He realized now why the others wanted Ronon to be with him for the Satedan was supporting most of his weight. He knew that if he were on his own, he wouldn't have been able to move fast enough to avoid the attacks of the phantom. Yet, he knew that they couldn't keep this up forever. He was tiring and the waves of guilt continued to pummel at him relentlessly. Try as he might, he couldn't seem to command his mind to override it. Somehow, even though part of his mind knew that it wasn't really Sumner's ghost trying to kill him; it still didn't make it any easier to fight against the alien influence that was affecting his mind.

_'Rodney_, _you had better find a way to end this soon!' _Sheppard thought desperately to himself.

oOo

Teyla moved swiftly, pushing Carson safely out of the way from the deadly scalpels that flew at them. However, because of his wounded leg, Carson tripped and stumbled, hitting his ribs at an awkward angle against the edge of his work table as he fell. There was a loud crack, followed by an explosion of pain in his midriff before the force of his landing jarred his wounded leg and agony flared alive from the wounded limp. Next to him, he heard the phantom scalpels smacking harmlessly on the floor nearby.

"Come Dr. Beckett, we must try our best to avoid her!" A gentle hand went around his waist as Teyla helped him back on his feet again. Biting back a groan, Carson nodded, ignoring his cracked ribs and throbbing leg as they tried to make their way out of the room.

A scream of rage sounded close behind them, Carson turned and saw Perna flinging another set of scalpels at them. He knew that there would be too many for them to avoid this time. Yet, Teyla seemed to move like the wind, and he felt his body being dragged swiftly to one side, almost hugging against the side of the wall. Then Teyla was suddenly there in front of him, trying to protect his body from the flying scalpels with her own. He saw two scalpels fly through the Athosian's left leg. Teyla's eyes widened and he assumed that she must have felt the same coldness of their entry that Sheppard spoke about as they came out from the other side of her leg, showing no evidence of injury. Standing next to her, the phantom scalpels continued their journey striking against his solid leg cast before falling harmlessly to the ground. For the first time since he had dislocated his knee, he was grateful for the cast that he now had.

oOo

The first thing Jack O'Neill noticed was a change in the medical monitors' beeping sound indicating that Major Lorne was finally waking up from his coma. He then saw movement on the previously motionless figure, followed closely by a soft moan.

He was instantly by the young major's side as dark brown lashes fluttered open.

"Major Lorne? Welcome back to the world of the living," he greeted the young major with a smile.

oOo

Lorne woke up to sound of his dead sister's voice echoing in his ears. As the fogginess of sleep cleared, he realized that there was someone else calling his name. It took him a few seconds to focus his eyes and finally recognize General O'Neill.

"Sir… what happened?" he asked, surprised at the weak and raspy tone of his voice. His entire body felt numb, probably due to various pain medications being pumped into him. There was a dull, faraway pain at his back and head.

O'Neill smiled at him but before he could reply, he saw the general's gaze shoot up; his thin lips tightening with tension towards something that seemed to have caught his attention. Lorne felt the hairs on his arms rise and a familiar guilt formed in his heart.

Still half drowsy, he saw the luminous image of Elysina approaching him with what looked like a sharp spear in her hand.

"Yoooour fault, Evaaaaan!" The phantom girl shrieked at him with an ugliness that seemed so different from the dream sister who had just left him.

_Remember, I never blamed you… I shall always love you, big brother. _

The loving words of his kid sister seemed to ring clearly in his ears again, over riding the phantom's accusations.

"She's not real, Lorne," he heard O'Neill say to him.

Briefly, Jack explained to him about the alien device that his team had found from the off-world mission. He listened attentively to what O'Neill had to say. It all made sense now. No wonder his sister wanted him to stop blaming himself for her death. Somehow, he felt as if his real sister was somewhere close by, lending him strength to do what he needed to do. Despite the pain medications, his head seemed clearer somehow, which didn't make sense. Perhaps it was because he had just awakened from a coma that he still felt linked to that other world. But whatever the case, he knew what he had to do.

Lorne looked at O'Neill and smiled at him. "Don't worry Sir, if she's only part of my mind, I don't think she can hurt me anymore."

He turned back towards the phantom child and he thought back to the girl who had visited him in his dream. He felt guilt being replaced by a sense of peace, of acceptance that he couldn't change the past. Elysina was right: he couldn't be at two places at once. If he had gone to save his sister, the toddler would have died. Besides, Elysina didn't blame him for her death; he knew that now. The phantom child slowly lowered the spear; the hatred in her face transformed into puzzlement. He smiled at her.

"I never got the chance to tell you in my dream," he said softly to her, "but I love you too, little sister."

Warmth filled his heart; he realized that perhaps he was given a second chance to say goodbye to his kid sister.

"You were right, I couldn't be at two places at once and I didn't know that you were in trouble until it was too late."

The ghost child stopped moving all together. Then she gave him a tentative smile as if saying goodbye. For a moment, he wondered whether it was the real ghost of his sister superseding the phantom one. Perhaps she was visiting him one last time before she faded away. In his mind, he seemed to hear her voice say, "_I'm proud of you, Evan. Remember, I shall always love you._"

"Goodbye, Elysina. I love you too …" he whispered softly as a small smile formed.

oOo

_"Caaarsssonnn!"_ he heard the ghostly Perna shriek again. There was murderous rage in her eyes. The apparition appeared uncomfortably close in front of Teyla. Gone were the scalpels, instead now she held an evil looking butcher's knife in her hand. Teyla, he suddenly realized, was trying to shield him with her body. It would not be enough, he thought to himself; the ghostly weapon would go through her and he would be dead anyway. However, he realized that by trying to protect him, Teyla was placing her own life in danger and he couldn't have that.

"No!" he cried, as he suddenly pushed her out of harm's way and stood in front of the ghostly Perna.

"Dr. Beckett!" Teyla called his name worriedly, her hand reaching out to pull him back.

"No, Teyla," he turned back to glance at her with determination. "I have to do this, this is my battle. Perna will not harm me." He had to believe that, after all, the ghost Charlie had not harmed O'Neill. He could do this, for both their sakes, he could do this.

He turned back to face Perna again. As he met her gaze, he discovered that he couldn't bear to look at her gloating face. To see her lusting after his blood somehow felt wrong, twisted in a way that didn't seem right. So he closed his eyes, pursing his lips together and tried to remember what Rodney had said.

_If it's a loved one that you're encountering, try to think of the love you shared with the person, like what O'Neill did._

Waves of guilt bombarded at him. He had killed his lovely Perna; one of the loveliest, gentlest woman whom he had ever known in his life. He knew when he first met her that this was someone whom he could develop deep feelings for, and in fact during their time working together on Hoff, he did have feelings for her. _Think of the love you shared… _he heard Rodney's words repeat in his mind. _Love… _The word vibrated in his mind. Was he in love with her? He knew that he cared deeply for her. He knew that for a while in Hoff, he was smitten. He recalled the strong emotions he had for her and the things that he admired about her: her intelligence; her loving, gentle nature; her love of medical science; her passion for continuing with her people's medical research in hopes of finding a way to save her people. And most important of all, how her eyes lighted up whenever she looked at him, her delightful smile, and the many various discussions that they shared together about themselves, their work and their people. These thoughts suddenly made him realize something that made him wonder why he had never realized before: Perna was never violent; she was a doctor like him. Her profession was to save lives not take it.

He opened his eyes feeling a sense of calmness enfolding him. He saw the ghostly Perna standing before him, the knife almost frozen in her hand while she stared at him with a strange look in her eyes. The guilt within him was receding as he recalled more of the love he felt for the woman before him.

"Perna, this is _not_ you, love," he finally spoke to the apparition. "You are kind, loving and gentle in nature… Even forgiving when you didn't need to be," his voice broke slightly at that last statement.

"Remember what you said to me?"

When she didn't reply, he continued, "I apologized to you, love, but it was you, lass, who comforted me while you lay dying. You told me that you were at peace… You told me that I gave your people hope… That we fulfilled their destiny, their promise…"

The ghost seemed to be listening to him now, her head cocked to one side, as if eager to hear what he had to say. The hatred in her eyes was slowly being replaced by familiar gentleness. Seeing this, his confidence grew, and he drew upon the affection he had for a woman who had died on the planet Hoff.

"You asked me to be at peace with myself, Perna. I didn't listen to you then. I grieved for your loss, for the loss of so many…" He eyes glimmered with unshed tears as he stared at the listening phantom. He lifted a hand as if wanting to stroke her ghostly features but he didn't, for he knew that his hand would go right through her. He mouth curved into a gentle, sad smile.

The ghost before him said nothing, but he could see her eyes softening. God, she looked so much like the Perna whom he knew and remembered. He felt a lump form at the back of his throat as he recalled their time together in Hoff.

"But I'm listening to you now, lass. I loved you and I'm going to forgive myself."

The ghost of Perna continued to stare at him. There was a shimmer of liquid pooling beneath her eyes. Then a single solitary tear dropped from her ghostly features as she blinked and vanished, fading away like morning mist on a windy day. For the first time in long time, Carson felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Carson?" he heard Teyla call his name.

The Athosian's eyes were unreadable, but he sensed concern in the tone of her voice.

"I'm okay, lass," he replied softly.

"That is good, Dr. Beckett, but that is not the reason why I called you," Teyla said.

Carson turned back to look at the Athosian woman, his concern now rising as he realized that there was something wrong with her.

"What is it lass?"

Large dark brown eyes turned to look at him a little fearfully.

"I've lost feeling in my left leg," she informed him.

oOo

TBC

_AN: Congratulations goes to Shellyw for guessing correctly what Zelenka would do in this chapter! An e-puddlejumper is currently being sent your way… If you can't see it, you might have to deactivate the invisibility cloak first. lol. _

_Gabumon, In the Mind's Eye won't be updated until after I've completed Ghost of Atlantis first. Sorry about that. _

_For those who are interested, "Blbec" means "idiot"._


	14. Too Close for Comfort

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_Thanks for the reviews! It's one reason why you have this update so quickly!_

oOo

**14: Too Close for Comfort**

The bullet zipped past him just as Rodney ducked. _Too close for comfort!_ Rodney thought frantically to himself.

_"Zelenka, hurry up! Do something!" _McKay hollered as he hid behind a large lab cabinet, looking at the alien cube device that he cradled close to his chest. Placing it down, his sweaty palms began to move across it; nervous fingers dancing everywhere, feeling all sides, hoping to find every single nook and cranny of the seemingly smooth, inky black surface. His mind screamed a silent litany, '_Control panel! Control panel! Where's the damn control panel?!_"

Fingers moved swiftly, driven by desperation to do something to save himself. By chance, his fingers snagged on a tiny nook, almost invisible to the human eye, placed at the bottom corner of the alien cube device. As he pressed it, he thought urgently to himself, '_Activate! Open! Start up! Anything! Dammit!'_

There was a soft swishing sound and a holographic control panel suddenly projected itself on the top of the cube. Ancient text whirled across it, like tiny stars floating around in a solar system. Eyes widening with excitement, Rodney quickly began scanning what he could understand of the alien language. One word stood out among the mass of others that he didn't quite understand. But that was enough to get his heart beating wildly with excitement as he recognized the Ancient text meaning '_Shut down'_. His mind processed this like lightning speed as he devised a solution on how to shut it down based on the data that he now received. His hand moved, reaching out for his handy Tablet PC, only to realize that he didn't actually have it with him. He had only managed to grab the Ancient device not his tablet when Gall had first attacked. That meant that he couldn't do what he needed to do.

"Crap!" Rodney yelped; ducking low as another set of phantom bullets flew past his head, narrowly missing him by mere inches. _That was too damn close!_ It was getting more difficult to avoid getting hit by Brendan's friggin' bullets. The cut at his forearm throbbed painfully and was currently bleeding profusely in beat with his racing heart. His wound was also making the alien cube device wet with bloodstains as it dripped down from his slippery fingers.

Taking the cube device in his hands again, he jumped up and made a mad dash towards another set of filing cabinets. At the same time, he screamed out instructions for Zelenka to do what he required him to do. The Czech scientist, Rodney knew, had access to his laptop. It was still attached to the alien device through the wireless link that they had set up earlier. Therefore, he didn't need his tablet; inputting the new commands through the Czech's laptop would do just as well. It was difficult for Rodney to have to rely on his underling to save his life, but he had not choice here, and he had faith in Zelenka's abilities, even though he would never verbally admit it to the man himself. No point in giving Radek a big head if he could help it. After all, he had practically spoon fed the Czech scientist on the shut down process required on the modified program that they were working on.

"_Pleasemakeitwork! Pleasemakeitwork! Pleasemakeitwork_!" he whimpered the litany to himself over and over again, while he tried to make himself as small as possible, crouching beside the shelter of the filing cabinets. His wounded forearm was starting to hurt really badly and he wondered whether he would faint shortly as a result of blood loss.

"Yooooouuu caaaannooot escape meeee Rodney! Yoooouuu are miiiinnnee!"

He looked up, giving out a squeal of horror when he saw Brendan pointing the gun pointblank at him. Somehow, the ghost must have snuck up on him without him realizing it.

"Radek! _Hurry!_" he screeched in panic, his heartbeat fluttering like an out of control rail train trying to break free from his chest.

_You caused this! You caused this! It's because of you that Brendan killed himself! _The litany of guilt now flowed into his head.

_Pull yourself together, McKay! _He rebuked himself. "You're a scientist; you know that this isn't really Brendan! It's all in your own head caused by some stupid alien device!" he stammered loudly. If Zelenka couldn't help him, then perhaps he could save himself.

"Do you hear me? You're NOT real!" he yelled at the ghost who was about to pull the trigger and blow his brains out of his genius head. He felt the heat of anger override the waves of guilt flooding at him. He saw Gall pause ever so slightly. "I _didn't_ kill you; you _killed _yourself! I was trying to _save_ you! Do you hear that? You stupid son of a …"

He didn't complete his sentence as at that instance, the ghost of Gall suddenly shimmered and faded away. Rodney gaped at the sudden empty space before him.

"I think I did it!" he heard Radek whoop with joy.

Rodney turned his head and saw his assistant coming out from under a lab table near by, the Czech scientist's laptop cradled tightly in his hand.

"You … you just saved my life, Radek!" he stammered the words out without thinking.

"Yes," Radek said smugly, grinning from ear to ear. "Yes, I did!"

Rodney saw Radek looking at him closely, his features turning now a little concerned. "Are you okay, Rodney?" he asked, indicating his bleeding arm.

Rodney looked down and saw that there was now a small pool of blood forming at his feet. The deep laceration on his arm hadn't stopped bleeding.

"I'm bleeding like a struck pig!" he observed in horror. Then his eyes rolled over and he promptly fainted.

oOo

There had been numerous close calls. Twice, Sumner's ghost had almost succeeded in injuring Sheppard, but each time, Ronon managed to pull the man away. So far Ronon had managed to evade the ghostly attacks using his Specialist training in Sateda and survival instincts learnt during his time as a runner. However, the last time he wasn't fast enough. While he managed to prevent the ghost from striking Sheppard, the phantom's weapon had struck him instead - right through his upper right arm, like an icy breeze whipping through his bone and biceps from which he felt no pain. He wondered whether it would harm him later, as it did Sheppard, but he refused to think about it while he guarded Sheppard's life. Things were getting too close for comfort and Ronon couldn't do a thing to fight against the ghostly enemy that wanted Sheppard dead. A frustration was building deep within him and he was beginning to hate the ghostly visage of Sumner. As he couldn't fight back, it was making him mad as hell.

All his persuasions for Sheppard to fight against the phantom's influence were met with naught. He knew that it wasn't Sheppard fault; the Colonel was trying the best he could, but from the glazed look that he saw in the Colonel's eyes, he knew that his commander was finding it difficult to concentrate through the pain medications that were dulling his senses.

Ronon currently found a spot at the corner of a wall; they were hiding there for a moment, catching a breather. Ronon wasn't sure now where the phantom was and it was making him uneasy.

"Sheppard, can you fight it?" Ronon whispered as he shouldered more of Sheppard's weight on him, being mindful of the bandages around the man's shoulder and ribs.

John's brows furrowed. Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, the pilot shook his head as if trying to clear the fog invading his mind or perhaps the guilt currently bombarding his senses. When Sheppard opened his eyes again, Ronon saw despair mixed with determination in the hazel eyes.

"I'm trying, dammit! What do you think I'm doing the entire time?" he gritted out loudly between tightly clenched teeth. "But I don't think it's working…"

There was a sound nearby and Ronon turned, cursing when he saw Sumner's ghost materialize itself right in front of them.

The Sumner's ghost smiled.

"Saaaaay good-byeeeeee, Sheppard!" The knife came slashing down at John.

"_NO!_" Ronon cried, pushing Sheppard to the ground as he dashed across at the phantom in a tackled punch. He felt a partial coldness flow through him, then Sumner's ghost was suddenly gone and all he punched was empty air.

oOo

"So basically, I saved Rodney's life," Radek smirked. "Just before he fainted!"

"Yes, you did, Radek, but I _did NOT _faint, I _passed out_ through heavy blood-loss! And _must_ you keep _repeating _it?! Anyway, as I was saying, it was _I _who figured out how to shut down the alien device and told Radek how to do it!" Rodney stated loudly, jutting his lower chin forward as he emphasized his point while gently caressing his heavily bandaged right forearm that was now a twin to the bandage of Sheppard's earlier injury. His Tablet PC was sitting on the table before him.

They were seated in the makeshift conference room again. With the crisis over, the Atlanteans were breathing a sigh of relief that the latest ghostly attacks had finally been resolved.

"Then I guess a thank you is in order, Rodney, Radek," Sheppard said smiling widely from his place in the infirmary bed, glad for once that he wasn't sprouting any new injuries. He was pleased with the turn of events.

"Yes, gentlemen," Elizabeth agreed, "There are reports that things could have been a lot worse if you hadn't managed to shut down the device. Unfortunately, I regret to report that we lost another two of our people from the last attack."

"We did?" Rodney asked, weary eyes looking shocked.

"Who were they?" Sheppard asked, his gaze piercing as he pursed his lips together in a tight line.

Elizabeth looked down at the tablet she held in her hand, reading the electronic report. "A Corporal Clysean and Lieutenant Marker, both marines; they came with the new batch of personnel that arrived the same time with General O'Neill."

"Did you know any of them, John?" Elizabeth asked.

Sheppard shook his head grimly. "No, I never got the chance to meet them yet."

"Did you say Clysean and Marker?" O'Neill asked, looking up.

"Yes," Elizabeth said, turning towards Jack. "Know them?" She lifted an enquiring eyebrow.

Jack nodded. "Being forced to travel the Daedalus for almost a month, you get to know some of the personnel, not personally, but enough to remember names and faces. Marker was pretty quiet, but good with numbers and computers, he helped me access some computer files that I needed help with. As for Clysean, he was your basic grunt - a big man with a short temper. I saw him gambling with some of the crew on board Daedalus during their down time, he almost started a fight when one of the crew accused him of cheating. I had to break it up before it turned nasty. I think if I wasn't his superior officer he would have slugged me for interfering."

"Good thing you are General then," Zelenka observed.

"Yeah," O'Neill agreed. "How did they die?"

Elizabeth looked down at her report, frowning slightly. "It seems that Marker was shot and Clysean was stabbed in the chest."

"Aye, when the medical teams arrived, both men were dead upon arrival. Dr. Biro is currently doing an autopsy on them; she should have news for us soon," Carson added.

"Was anyone with them when it happened?" Sheppard asked, clearly disturbed by the news that two men under his command had been killed.

Weir looked down at her screen. "According to the report, Marker didn't have anyone assigned to watch him; I hope that we didn't miss his name by accident. But Corporal Clysean had Lieutenant Holden with him. Holden reported that when the phantom appeared screaming accusations at the Corporal, Clysean was overcome by its influence, he punched Holden before running off, impaling himself on the phantom's blade."

"Ouch," said O'Neill, wincing.

"Aye," Carson agreed, looking slightly paler at the news.

Rodney who was busy tapping on his tablet with his stylus, suddenly spoke, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! The Lieutenant who was killed, was his name Lieutenant Brent W Marker?"

"Yes, Rodney. What of it?" Elizabeth asked, looking at him curiously.

"Humph, well according to our data, I can see why no one was assigned to watch Marker's back… It's because he doesn't have the ATA gene!" Rodney exclaimed.

At that moment, Carson's radio activated. He listened to it for a while, his features turning darker. Clearly, the news that he received wasn't good.

"Thank you Dr. Biro, I'm with Dr. Weir and the others now. I'll inform them of your findings," Beckett finally spoke to his earpiece. He then turned to look around at the others.

"Let me guess," Rodney interceded before Carson could utter the first word. "Dr. Biro just found an actual bullet in Marker's body. He wasn't killed by a phantom bullet as we originally expected."

Carson looked up surprised. "Aye, Rodney, how did you know that?"

McKay jutted his lower chin forward and said smugly, "Simple deduction, my good doctor. As Marker didn't have the ATA gene, it was obvious that he wasn't killed by phantoms. Whoever who actually killed Marker must have been hoping that we'd think that the ghost killed him too."

"Which means that we have a murderer in Atlantis," said Sheppard, looking very much disturbed by this.

oOo

TBC


	15. Eye of the Storm

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

**15: Eye of the Storm**

"Well, this makes it interesting," O'Neill said, referring to the murder of Lieutenant Marker.

"Hmm, you think?" McKay added sarcastically.

"I'll ask Sergeant Sheridan to start an investigation," Sheppard said, looking around for his comlink, frowning as he couldn't find one anywhere nearby. "Hey, could someone please hand me a earpiece?"

"Colonel Sheppard, you're still injured and incapacitated, I'll speak to Sergeant Sheridan and we'll keep you appraised of the situation while you're here," Jack stated.

Sheppard gave him a wry smile. "Thank you, Sir. I'll appreciate that."

O'Neill returned the smile, knowing how Sheppard felt being stuck in the infirmary alone and not allowed to go where the action was. He had been there before.

"So, were there others seriously injured?" Dr. Zelenka asked.

Beckett shook his head, his hand moving to clasp around his sore ribs, remembering not to breathe too deeply. He knew how Sheppard felt with his own cracked ribs.

"No, that's the good news," Carson replied. "All injuries reported around Atlantis were relatively minor. A few cuts, bruises, a sprain or two, nothing that required anyone staying in the infirmary overnight."

"Hey, what about me?" Rodney asked, still nursing his bandaged forearm.

Carson looked at Rodney. "While your laceration was deep, Rodney, it wasn't life threatening. You should be fine, just don't over tax that arm of yours and ensure that your bandages are always kept clean and dry. I'll arrange to see you later today for a change of dressing but otherwise you can retire to your quarters tonight."

"Oh," Rodney said, looking a bit disappointed.

Becket turned back to the others and continued with his report. "As you know, I've already discharged all our previous patients even before tonight's attack. I'm also happy to say that we'll be having an empty infirmary except for Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne, which I'm pleased to report, has come out of his coma and is doing nicely."

Everyone cheered at this piece of news.

"Are there any lingering effects on the phantom weapons that struck those who didn't have the ATA gene?" Elizabeth asked.

Carson smiled. "Well, except for the fact that they seemed to cause temporary paralysis and loss of feeling to the affected areas, they actually caused no internal damage to those without ATA genes, such as Teyla and Ronon. So the answer to your question Dr. Weir, is no."

"It can be quite disconcerting though when you lose all feeling of a limb for at least an hour or so," Teyla added calmly, remembering the fright she experienced when she had to be transported to the infirmary on a gurney. Her relief was palpable when she was informed that the paralysis was only temporarily, and even more so, when she started to get feeling back in her leg again after it had been hit by the ghostly scalpels. Even now, her leg still had a slight sensation of pins and needles, which Dr. Beckett assured her would soon pass. However, what mattered most was that it wasn't paralyzed any longer.

"Yes," Ronon agreed, still rubbing his right arm, _his battle arm_, and shuddered at the thought that the paralysis might have been permanent.

"Aye, you two were damn lucky that it wasn't worse. I didn't get the chance to thank you before, Teyla, for what you did for me in my office. But please, don't place yourself in danger for me like that again," Carson said getting a little teary eyed with emotion.

"Yeah, same goes for me, Ronon." Sheppard said from his infirmary bed. "No stupid risks, like what Carson said, or I'll kick your ass." He was a person who preferred expressing his emotion with a joke and was glad that Carson had enough emotion for everyone in the room.

Teyla smiled affectionately at the Scottish doctor and gave him an Athosian nod.

"You are welcome, Dr. Beckett, but I know that you would have done the same for us, as would Colonel Sheppard." She knew well enough not to say anything more or argue the point, but she knew in her heart that if the same situation occurred again, she would do the same thing without a second thought. That was what family meant to her, and everyone in that room was like family to her – except perhaps for General O'Neill, whom she barely knew. But even then from what she knew of him so far, she felt that he was a good and honorable man. And Teyla knew that she would fight for his life too, if need be. She took a glance at Ronon and knew that he felt the same way too.

The Satedan however quirked his lips upwards, more like a wolfish grin rather than a friendly smile as he looked at Sheppard. "I agree with Teyla. You take risks all the time for us. And you won't kick my ass, Sheppard, cos I'll won't let you," Ronon replied gleefully to John's threat.

Sheppard thought about it and conceded the point, although all could see that he wasn't happy about it.

"But once you're feeling up to it, Sheppard, we could go for a run and see who wins," Ronon offered.

John's eyes lighted up at the challenge.

"You've got yourself a deal, Ronon," he replied, already thinking up ways of how he could get fitter and build up his stamina for the challenge. He knew that he needed to so if he wanted to give himself a fighting chance against the big guy. He wondered whether placing laxatives in Ronon's food before the run would do the trick. Then he winced internally and chided himself for thinking such a despicable thought. He never cheated; Rodney might do so especially when it came to certain competitive computer games, but certainly not John Sheppard.

The others in the room smiled at John and Ronon, admiring the cunningness behind the Satedan's challenge. All knew how competitive Sheppard was and how hard he would work to get better, given the right motivation.

Elizabeth smiled, cleared her throat, bringing the conversation back to the topic at hand. "Well, except for one fatality, I'll say that we didn't do too badly tonight, people. I'm not counting Lieutenant Marker because he was murdered, which is something entirely different from the crisis of the ghostly attacks. Everyone did their best in ensuring that those without the ATA genes were protected, and pretty much everyone did a good job there. General O'Neill, Teyla and Ronon, we owe you our gratitude for watching over Major Lorne, Dr. Beckett and Colonel Sheppard. And Rodney and Radek, I'll say this again, well done, gentlemen for finding a way to shut down the alien device."

"Here, here!" Sheppard stated with a big grin on his face.

Rodney and Radek beamed with pleasure. However, as Elizabeth looked at the two scientists, she noticed how tired the two men were. McKay particularly looked dead on his feet.

"Rodney, you really look awful. I know that you haven't had an opportunity to get much sleep since all this started, so you should probably get some shut eye. It's well deserved." As she said this, she looked at her watch and frowned. "It's almost two thirty in the morning, we're all tired but you especially must be exhausted. I recommend we retire for the night, get as much sleep as we can and tomorrow, or should I say, later today, worry about tracking down the Marker's killer."

"Yeah, even I can see those bags under your eyes from where I am, buddy. If you don't watch it, you'll soon have the panda eye look, Rodney." Sheppard observed with a smirk. "So hit the sack, McKay."

Rodney's hands instantly went to his eyes to rub at them, of course trying to rub off those 'bags under the eye' that Sheppard mentioned.

"Yes, well, going without sleep for a few days can do that to you," McKay sniped back. "But there's a few things that I want to sort out first concerning the Ancient cube device, and…" he snapped his fingers at O'Neill, "I might have some ideas on helping you track down the killer too."

"I think that sleep might be the first order of the day, Rodney," Carson stated kindly. "After all, there's only so much strain the human body can take and sleep deprivation isn't going to do you any good. Surely all this can wait for a few hours."

"Yes, it makes Head Scientist very cranky and he ends up biting head off poor assistant as a result," Zelenka added.

"Oh har-dee-ha-ha! I'm entitled to be cranky, after all _hellooo…? _Didn't I just save the day once again?" Rodney retorted defensively.

"You mean _we _saved the day," Radek countered.

As most of the group left the infirmary to retire for the night, they could still hear McKay and Radek arguing about who had saved the day down the corridor.

oOo

John called Carson's name as he was about to depart.

"Yes, Colonel?" Beckett asked, wondering what he wanted. The Scottish doctor hobbled towards the pilot on his crutches, wincing at the sharp spikes of pain each hobble caused to his ribs.

"Are you in pain, Colonel? Would you like something to ease it?"

Sheppard smiled. "No doc, just the opposite. I'm hoping that you could forego giving me anymore pain medications tonight?"

During his last encounter with Sumner, he never felt so out of control in his life, unable to direct his thoughts and feelings; it was as if he was losing himself to some alien entity. It reminded him of the time when he had been affected by the Beckett's iratus bug retrovirus and it didn't make him feel any better for it. He also heard how the Beckett and Lorne had battled against their own demons and won; and he felt angry at himself that he couldn't defeat Sumner's ghost on his own.

He always felt that he should be stronger than that, after all he was the Head of the Military Contingent – he had to be strong, to make tough decisions, and to be able to live with those decisions. Sumner's ghost had shown him that he had a vulnerability and a weakness within him, and although he would never openly admit it to anyone, he felt ashamed at his failure and lack of control. And now that there was a murderer running loose somewhere in Atlantis, he required all his mental faculties if he was to be of any help to anyone. He therefore needed time to reflect over what had happened; he needed to be able to feel in control again. He was willing to accept a little pain and discomfort if it allowed him to do just that.

Carson looked at him and seemed to comprehend how he felt. He gave John a brief smile and a nod. "I suppose I could delay the medications, lad. However, by ten in the morning, you'll be needing them again, so no arguments."

"Fair enough, doc, just for tonight then. I just need to be able to hear myself think, that's all," Sheppard said.

"Aye, I understand. Seeing Colonel Sumner's ghost again couldn't have been easy for you," Beckett observed before pausing for a long while. When he spoke again, his tone was sympathetic. "It wasn't your fault, Colonel. You did what you had to do. You know that, don't ya?"

There was a faraway look in the physician's eyes when he spoke those words; it made John wonder whether the doctor was thinking about his own encounter with Perna.

Sheppard finally nodded, not knowing what else to say.

"Okay, lad, I'll cut down your medications, but if you feel ye need them again, just ask the night nurse. I'll leave her instructions on what you'll need."

"Thanks doc," Sheppard replied appreciatively with a grin. As the Scottish doctor turned to go, he asked, "How are the ribs?"

He recognized from the doctor's careful posture to know that the doctor must have cracked a rib or two. Beckett hadn't mentioned it to anyone, but he knew that the doctor must be hurting.

"Sore," Carson replied wryly.

"I bet," Sheppard observed with a sympathetic smile, his hand going to the bandages around his own barely healed ribs, courtesy of one Ronon Dex.

"You look beat, doc. It appears that McKay's not the only one who's needing rest. Why don't you hit the sack, after all, the crisis has been averted and I don't really need a nurse maid, Carson. I just need some time by myself, I'll be fine."

Carson frowned and looked at him a little uncertainty. "You sure about that, Sheppard?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, doc. After all, Rodney and Radek saved the day, remember?"

"Aye, all right then," Dr. Beckett finally conceded as he limped out of the infirmary using his crutches again. He dimmed the lights down as he left. "I'll see you in the morning, lad."

Sheppard smiled, replying, "Sure doc, good night!"

Sighing softly to himself, John closed his eyes and tried to make himself comfortable as he leaned his head back against the pillows. After about ten minutes or so, he opened his eyes to stare silently at the dark infirmary ceiling above him, lost in thought about an officer whom he had been forced to kill when he first arrived at the Pegasus galaxy.

oOo

Despite assuring Beckett that he would get some sleep, Rodney stubbornly headed back towards his lab after Radek left his company to retire for the night. There was something that niggled at the back of his mind about the alien device that he wanted to check out. However, seeing how tired Radek was, he didn't have the heart to interrupt the Czech scientist's rest further simply based on an unfounded suspicion. Not especially after what his assistant had done for him. So he allowed his assistant to retire for the night, while he headed for the lab alone.

While he was there working, O'Neill popped in surprising McKay when the General saw that the scientist's lab lights were still on. They chatted for a while and Rodney showed Jack how to access certain computer logs that he thought might be useful in hunting down Marker's murderer. He also told Jack to see Radek, assuring him that the Czech scientist could help him out, if he was too busy to do it himself.

"So, you have confidence in Dr. Zunka's abilities then?" Jack said.

"Zunka?" Rodney repeated the name, looking up a little surprised. "Actually his name is… um, Zunka, yes that's correct, Dr. Zunka should be able to help you. He won't be my assistant otherwise. Of course, I'm way smarter than he is, which is why _I'm _the Head of the Scientific Department and _he _is my assistant." Rodney replied, smiling smugly to himself knowing how annoyed Zelenka would be when O'Neill addressed him as Zunka.

O'Neill smiled at McKay's self flattery, but it quickly faded as he asked his next question. "So, why are you still up, McKay?"

Rodney eyed Jack, wondering whether to tell him the truth. Finally seeing no reason why not, he replied, "There's something that's been bothering me about the alien device that I needed to check out."

"Oh yeah? What?" asked Jack.

"I'm not really sure yet, just one of those niggling feeling that I have which I can't put my finger on." Rodney replied vaguely.

Jack frowned slightly at Rodney's explanation and the scientist saw the older man scrutinizing him closely.

"Anything I can do to help?" Jack finally asked.

The request surprised Rodney. "No, no. It's probably nothing, General. I'll just be here a few minutes longer and if I can't find anything, I'll be heading off to my quarters to get some sleep."

He saw O'Neill place his hands in his pockets and stand on the balls of his feet. "Well, okay then. Goodnight McKay, I'll see you in the morning." With those words the General waved a farewell and left.

Rodney soon forgot about O'Neill as he turned his attention back towards the alien cube device, calling up the holographic display control screen as he did earlier. He was still looking at it, trying to decipher the Ancient encrypted text that rotated around as a holographic interface above the device, when weariness overcame him. His eyes drooped and his head fell forward onto his crossed arms. He wasn't even aware that he had fallen asleep in his lab.

oOo

Dr. Rodney McKay awoke with a start, wondering where the strange humming sound was coming from. Bleary eyed, he peeled back his heavy eyelids to realize that he had somehow fallen asleep with his mouth half open and drooling a sticky wet patch on his bandage. With a look of disgust, he forced himself to recall why he was still in his lab instead of sleeping comfortably in his quarters. He remembered falling asleep while examining the alien device and he gave himself a snort of disgust.

As he looked around, his gaze fell upon the alien device that he had in front of him. It took him a moment to realize that the strange humming sound was coming from it. In fact, not only was it humming loudly but there was also a strange greenish glow surrounding it too. All sleep instantly fled from his eyes as Rodney swiftly attached his Tablet PC to the alien device and began typing into it, calling up the active source file that he was working on. His eyes quickly scanned what his computer showed him: a solitary EMF energy reading was flickering on his tablet's screen. His gaze moved, noting that there was no other EMF energy reading elsewhere in the city.

"Oh nonononono…" he muttered to himself as he called up another set of data, frowning darkly as he read what it showed and realized what had been bothering him earlier. When Zelenka had initiated the shut down command, it had had worked but only partially. All those with weak ATA or artificial genes had been categorized as non-aggressive and unimportant individuals according to the Ancient database in the cube device, therefore the shut down process worked permanently for them.

However for an individual with an extremely strong ATA gene, the system only went into a temporary powered-down hibernation mode. He heart started to hammer in his chest upon analyzing what the readings showed as he realized what this meant. It looked like this individual got the raw deal, which really sucked. He began to curse louder. When they had initiated the hibernation mode for that individual, they had also inadvertently made things a lot worse for him. It had shut down for almost everyone except for that person, and now it was slowly powering up again, but stronger than ever as it accumulated all its resources to focus on eliminating that single target. Cursing more colorfully, he looked at the name of the individual that appeared in red while all the others were in blue. The name _'Sheppard' _blinked off and on in red over and over again.

His hand hurriedly moved to attach the comlink over his ear, tapping on the frequency that he wanted. To his puzzlement, all he got was the sound of static. He frowned, looked down and began typing rapidly onto his keyboard again. He noticed that the alien device was also interfering with all radio transmissions in Atlantis. Now that it had reawakened from hibernation, it was initiating some AI program to ensure that that the last target won't escape its grasp so easily. After all, this system was built for an Ancient penal colony. Prisoners were not meant to escape but were given death sentences induced by their own subconscious guilt.

"Crap! Crap! Crapperty crap!" he cursed loudly, feeling a surge of panic but knowing that he couldn't let the raw emotion take over, not while Sheppard's life hung in the balance. Grabbing the alien cube and his Tablet PC, he dashed out of his lab into the deserted corridor ahead, praying desperately he would somehow be able to find a way to save Sheppard in time.

oOo

TBC

_A/N: Poor, poor Sheppard! Looks like he's just run out of luck. And what about Rodney? Is his luck gonna hold up? Further mayhem is in store for both our boys! Bwhahahahahahaha! _


	16. Trouble's a Brewin'

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Thank you all for your comments! You guys rock! I've been busy trying to get the next part out asap but alas, RL interfered, not counting the fact that I got a little stuck trying to figure some details out in order to lay the foundation for the next part. LOL. Anyway, hope that you enjoy this chap :) _

**16: Trouble's a Brewin'**

General Jack O'Neill was dozing in the deserted corridor with his back leaning against the wall, not far from McKay's lab, when the Head Scientist almost ran into him, practically tripping over his long legs. Rodney's sudden appearance instantly jerked O'Neill awake and he reached out to stop the scientist from pitching forward all the way. Alert in an instance, he took in the scientist's anxious blue eyes (sunken and dark from the lack of sleep) and raw nervous anxiety that spelt trouble with a capital T. The fact that the man was practically hugging the alien cube device and Tablet PC to his chest did nothing to ease his apprehension.

"Trouble… McKay?" he asked, getting quickly to his feet, wincing and stretching his out his lower back, working the cricks out of it. _I'm getting too old for this_, he told himself.

"What are you doing here?" Rodney asked, looking surprised and wide eyed at O'Neill.

Jack made a face. "After we spoke, your niggling suspicion reminded me of how Daniel Jackson behaved whenever trouble was near. I figured I'd better stick around in case you needed help. "

"Humph..." It was obvious that McKay didn't know what to make of this.

"You could have waited in the lab, you know," Rodney finally uttered as he started to jog hurriedly along again, running on ahead. O'Neill, who was now fully awake, tagged comfortably beside him, keeping up with the pace the scientist set.

"Whenever I did that with Daniel, he'd always asked me to go away," Jack replied.

"Oh?" McKay shot a look towards him, curiosity shone from his blue eyes.

He shrugged. "He said I fidgeted too much, that it was interfering with his concentration." O'Neill revealed. "I didn't want to have the same effect on you."

Rodney chuckled loudly. "Hah! Reminds me of Sheppard! I can understand how Dr. Jackson feels! Actually, good point, you would have probably affected my concentration too. I've noticed in our meetings that you do tend to fidget a lot, playing with your pen or doodling. Didn't your mother ever teach you to seat still? It's really distracting did you know that?"

Subtlety was obviously not the scientist's strong point, but Jack took no affront for he already knew that.

"But if you'd stayed, I probably wouldn't have fallen asleep and might have spotted the problem sooner," confessed McKay, surprising O'Neill with his candor. The scientist began to pick up speed, as if he was trying to set a new world record in sprinting.

"So what's up?" Jack finally asked, puffing slightly as he attempted to keep up with the new pace. To his surprise he discovered that he could barely keep up with the astrophysicist. Either he was getting too old for this or sitting in his office all day pushing paper was affecting his general fitness. He preferred to think it was the latter.

"The alien device has reactivated again. It's targeting Sheppard!" came Rodney's worried response.

"What?" Jack asked, stunned by the news. "I thought that you and Zelenka had shut it down. Is it reactivating for everyone who has the gene?"

McKay shot him an unreadable look. "No, no. Only for Colonel Sheppard. It appears that the device initiated a final shut down for all of us, but unfortunately for the Colonel, it only went into some sort of system hibernation. From what I've been able to deduce, it's because he has the strongest ATA gene and also shoulders a lot of guilt for Sumner's death. The problem is, it's now powering up again. However, while it was in hibernation, it used the time to analyze Sheppard's core memory of his perceived guilt. From what I've been able to make out, it has determined that because Sheppard was forced to kill Colonel Sumner, who was his CO at the time, he's more than your basic run-in-the-mill dangerous criminal. It's now initiating another protocol where there's no count down involving how many injuries the phantom gives the Colonel before it disappears. Nor is there a time factor where it will disappear at the break of dawn. It's going to try to eliminate the Colonel once and for all, as it believes that such an action is the best result possible."

"Oh for crying out loud, so how do we stop it?" Jack asked as he fingered his comlink, trying to activate it.

Rodney gave him a worried but annoyed look. "Do you think if I knew the answer to that I would be heading recklessly to the infirmary in hopes of warning Sheppard? By the way, I've already tried that… The alien device is affecting our radio communications, which means that we can't radio for help."

"Dammit!" O'Neill scowled. "This just gets better and better, doesn't it?"

oOo

Despite wanting to stay awake, Sheppard discovered that he had fallen asleep sometime during the night only to be rudely awakened by a worried, loud voiced scientist who didn't know the meaning of bedside manner. There were frantic hands on his shoulders, shaking him none too gently bringing spikes of pain to his heavily bandaged shoulder.

The all too familiar voice of Rodney McKay dragged him out of his not-so peaceful slumber into a dim infirmary to see a dark shadow looming over him. "Sheppard! Oh thank God, you're still alive!" The words that greeted him honestly didn't make him feel a whole lot better.

"Okay, I'm up already, will you quit yammering and ease off a little?!" John grumbled, trying to bat off Rodney's hands as he heard movement of an infirmary bed rolling nearby. Turning his head, he saw a tall shadowed figure rolling an infirmary bed with a still slumbering Major Lorne in it out of the infirmary.

"So, what's the big emergency?" Sleep still muddled his mind, but it was quickly dissipating in light of seeing Lorne being transferred away and an anxious and tired looking McKay standing by his infirmary bed. He knew Rodney well enough to know that the scientist wouldn't be waking him up in the middle of the night unless there was an emergency. If John had been uninjured and sleeping in his quarters, Rodney might have done so (as he did on a number of occasions) but certainly not while he was still in the infirmary.

"Okay, I've moved Major Lorne's bed and placed it outside the infirmary. He's still asleep; I think the doc must have given him something that has zonked him out but we should be able to transfer him to somewhere safe pretty easily. However, it doesn't look like there's anyone here. McKay, you sure you got the reading of the device correct? Cos if we just disturbed two of Dr. Beckett's patients for nothing, I don't think the doc is gonna be pleased with us."

Whatever remnants of sleep left in him swiftly departed as soon as he recognized General O'Neill's voice. John knew that the General would definitely not be there, moving Lorne out of the infirmary if it wasn't required.

Rodney turned back to glance at the General before picking up something that was emanating a green glow from the side of his bed. Sheppard instantly recognized it as the cube alien device. Even more disturbing was the fact that the said device was also giving out a strange humming tone. Rodney also picked up his tablet, studying the screen before saying, "Yes, the reading is showing that something is definitely happening here… Hmm, there could be a reason why the EMF power signature is blinking, perhaps it's building up power or … "

The night nurse chose at that moment to turn up, carrying a cup of tea in her hand and looking flustered. Seeing Major Lorne's infirmary bed placed outside the infirmary corridor with Rodney and Jack hovering over Sheppard's bed, did nothing to calm her down. A high, irate voice greeted them loudly. "What in the world is going on here? Who moved Major Lorne to the corridor? And why are you two disturbing my patients? Colonel Sheppard needs his rest! Gentlemen, you shouldn't be here and I must _insist _that you leave immediately!"

Rodney barely spared her a look, except to grimace and note that she was one of the nurses who had the ATA gene too. He hadn't the time nor the patience to explain what was happening to an irate nurse. "Get her out of here!" he said to Jack, knowing that if Sumner's ghost appeared she could be injured too. "I'll see to Sheppard."

"I think I can see to myself Rodney!" John replied but everyone at that moment ignored him, much to his indignation.

oOo

Jack didn't need to be told twice as he approached the infuriated nurse, trying to calm her down while Rodney helped John out of bed. He could hear the scientist giving a brief run-down to the Colonel on the current situation. He heard Sheppard utter the word "Crap!" when McKay mentioned the alien device powering up again with John being its target.

Using his General's authoritative tone (sometimes it paid being a General) he began to steer the night nurse out of the infirmary, explaining as he went. As he did so, he heard the humming pitch of the ancient cube device that Rodney carried with him suddenly change in tone. The prickling sensation at the back of his neck informed him immediately that something bad was about to occur. However, before he could turn around to warn McKay and Sheppard, there was a sonic boom, followed by an explosive energy wave that propelled him and the night nurse forward to slam bodily on the opposite wall of the corridor. Fortunately, Lorne's bed was sheltered by the corridor wall, so he wasn't harmed.

Picking himself up from the floor, Jack quickly ran back to the doorway of the infirmary to see both McKay and Sheppard lying in the middle of the infirmary floor unconscious. If that wasn't disturbing enough, there was now an energy field surrounding the entire infirmary door, blocking him from reaching the two men. He could only deduce that somehow the alien device must have caused it. When he tried to touch it, a painful electrical current coursed through him, making him retract his fingers immediately with a loud "Ow!"

Flapping his singed fingers at his side, he turned back to the night nurse who was staring wide eyed at the shielded door and the unconscious occupants lying in the room beyond.

"Alert security! Get Dr. Beckett here immediately and let Weir know what has happened! The comms aren't working, so you'll have to wake them yourself or find someone who can do it for you. Also, get Dr. Zunka here!"

"Zunka?" the nurse looked at him confused.

"Yes, that Czech scientist, McKay's assistant," Jack replied impatiently.

"Yes, sir!" the nurse cried as she took one look at the scene in the infirmary before dashing off.

Standing outside the infirmary door, he called out to John and Rodney. Both men remained motionless on the floor. At a darkened corner at the far end of the infirmary, O'Neill saw something flicker. Squinting ahead, his heart skipped a beat as he recognized the ghostly form of Colonel Marshall Sumner finally appearing to claim his final victim.

oOo

TBC


	17. Ghostly Showdown

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: The bunnies send their thanks and are wagging their fluffy white tails at ya! _

**17: Ghostly Showdown**

Sheppard stirred on the cold, hard floor, feeling something heavy lying halfway across his legs while someone called his and Rodney's names urgently over and over again. The male voice, he noted, was mildly familiar but he was alarmed to recognize that there was concern and anxiety mixed with the tensed tone amidst curses of frustration. Sheppard moved emitting a soft groan, wondering what the hell had occurred as he tried to push the heavy weight off his legs. Opening his eyes, he saw Rodney's unconscious form lying halfway across his legs. His heart started to pound harder as he wondered what they were doing on the infirmary floor. With a grunt of effort, he finally managed pull his trapped legs free from the scientist's limp body.

"Rodney?" his voice managed to croak out with concern as his befuddled mind tried to make out what had happened. All his senses were tingling from the after-effects of whatever energy wave that had knocked them out.

The voice that had been calling both their names earlier now focused on him.

"Colonel Sheppard! Dammit! John! If you want to live, you had damn well better listen up, soldier! Sumner's ghost has just appeared and it's heading straight towards you. Take cover, Colonel, while we find a way to get through this damn shield!"

_Shield? Sumner? _The words came like a jumble to John's befuddled mind, yet the last name triggered a response in him; he recalled what Rodney had told him about the alien device reactivating again with him unfortunately being the main target. He remembered heading towards the infirmary door with Rodney. There was a blast and a sudden light seemed to engulf both of them; he remembered it coming from the cube device that Rodney carried in his hands. There was a feeling of falling then nothing until now…. Lifting his woozy head, Sheppard tried to focus on the voice that was yelling instructions at him; it took him a moment to recognize the worried face of General O'Neill standing by the door. There was some sort of blue energy field surrounding the frame of the exit, preventing anyone from entering or going out. He knew that he was in trouble as soon as he saw it.

He turned towards Rodney and saw that the scientist was lying unconscious beside him. His brow furrowed as his hand reached out to shake the astrophysicist awake. The man released a soft moan, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Go away, genius needs his sleep here…" Sheppard's lips twitched upwards slightly with amusement, but it was quickly replaced by a grim look as he recollected his current predicament. Stunned, they had both been stunned when the alien cube device had released the energy shield sealing both of them in the infirmary.

"Dammit! Sheppard, do you hear me?! _Look behind you!_ Move your butt, Colonel, before that damn ghost kills you!"

The words sent a cold chill down Sheppard's spine. He had sensed it, the coldness, the sensation that had his skin prickling and screaming of danger. He turned his head towards the direction that O'Neill indicated. His eyes widened at what he saw: O'Neill had not been exaggerating when he shouted for him to move.

With a gasp, he rolled away urgently, crying out as the movement caused a spike of pain to erupt from his wounded shoulder and ribs. The phantom bullet that was meant for his head, clipped the side of his ear instead, drawing blood and a dull pain barely felt; it was nothing in comparison to the pounding he felt in his heart from the shock of the close call.

"Shit!" Sheppard gasped, as he forced his body to spring upwards. He scrambled away from where Rodney lay; the last thing he wanted was for Rodney to be caught in the cross fire of the phantom's attack.

oOo

Waking up was pretty hard to do especially when you had spend almost three nights in a row burning the midnight oil. To be forced awake while your body desperately craved for sleep ultimately made you feel like the walking dead. This was what Dr. Rodney McKay discovered. He heard the sounds of shots fired, and it took him a while for his sleepy mind to process what those sounds actually meant. He heard Sheppard's voice cursing and felt someone move away from him.

_What the heck was going on?!_ Rodney tried to clear the haze that seemed to clog his sleep fogged mind. Opening his eyes, he saw Sheppard's form stumbling across the infirmary floor, seemingly to take cover behind some large medical monitoring machines.

"Hey, McKay! You awake?!" he heard O'Neill's voice address him from somewhere close by. "The phantom is after Sheppard! Do you think you can do anything with that alien doohickey to stop it?"

Memory returned like a thunderclap and he was suddenly wide awake. Whipping his head around, he forced his still tingling body to sit up. He recognized the vaguely familiar feeling. _Stunned! I have been stunned! _He thought to himself in amazement as he turned to see the shimmering blue form of Sumner's ghost heading towards Sheppard with a 9mm in hand. Currently the ghostly apparition was discharging the fire arm at the pilot. _Dammit, Sheppard! _Thoughts of the Colonel being in danger sent a multitude of thoughts scrambling through his brain as his mind searched for a solution that could save his friend. His eyes fell upon the alien device again and his precious Tablet PC. Scampering to activate them, it didn't take him long to observe that the alien device was somehow projecting an energy field around the infirmary door. The AI programming of the cube had ingeniously managed to find a way to hitchhike upon an energy stream that was powering Atlantis itself.

Another hail of shots fired, distracting him; Rodney saw Sheppard wince at the closeness of the impacts. The pilot was moving again, trying to avoid the phantom bullets as best as he could. Rodney stared worriedly at John, his mouth slightly ajar, knowing that approaching Sheppard was not an option he considered as he would only get himself shot in the process. After all, he wasn't Ronon; he didn't have the speed nor the strength or agility to carry Sheppard. Anyway, the pilot seemed to be doing rather well dodging the phantom bullets on his own.

"It isn't real! Sheppard! Try to remember that he isn't real, it's all part of your mind!" Rodney cried out. He saw Sheppard give him a scowl and a dirty look.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" the pilot shouted back. "Do you think I'm having a picnic here?! It's easier _said _than _done_, McKay!" The voice was exasperated and desperate; he knew that Sheppard was doing his best. On the up side, Sheppard also seemed more awake, less sluggish, which Rodney supposed was a good thing. Rodney knew that he had to find some way to shut down the alien device. He turned back to the cube device in his hand, his heart pounding as he called up the control panel, linking it to his tablet's program schematics that he and Radek had been working on earlier.

There were sounds by the infirmary door way, he glanced around to see that Carson, Radek, Elizabeth, Ronon and Teyla had arrived. All were looking at him and Sheppard anxiously. Zelenka called his name, asking him whether there was anything that they could do.

His eyes locked onto his weary looking assistant. "Yes! Radek, did you bring your laptop? The one that was connected to the alien device?"

He saw Radek nod in affirmation. "Yes, I have with me. I brought it as soon as I heard about trouble."

"Good! See whether you can do use it to access the Ancient device to deactivate the energy shield. It's currently using some sort of slipstream technology to hitch upon the power generated by Atlantis."

Radek was busy typing into his laptop, nodding his head vigorously. "Yes, I see it. The complexity of it is amazing…"

"Yes, yes, ingenious really," Rodney impatiently cut the Czech scientist off. His mind twirling at light speed as various scenarios of possible solutions tumbled through his brain. One option stood out among all the others. He snapped his fingers loudly and said, "We need someone to deactivate the ZPM! The cube device seems to be drawing power from Atlantis. Maybe without a power source to feed it, the shield can be deactivated somehow."

"Good idea, Rodney," Radek replied excitedly, moving as if to leave.

"No Radek, I need you here, close to the device when that happens. Once the power source is cut off, you'll find it easier to access the device's shield control module with your laptop. However, the wireless link won't reach where the ZPM is located."

"I've seen how Dr. McKay deactivated it before," Teyla said. "I shall go."

"If you need help, I'll give you instructions over radio," Radek added. "However, the central panel where ZPM is located likes to jam sometimes; it might take brute strength to get it out."

"I'll go with Teyla in case she needs help," Ronon volunteered. All could see that he was angry with himself for leaving Sheppard alone and unguarded; he needed to do something to help out.

"Thank you, Ronon," Teyla said.

"Tell Sheppard to hold on," Ronon said as they quickly departed for the ZPM room.

McKay's attention turned back towards the alien cube device. He could hear Radek busy typing on the keyboard near the door; he looked at the alien device and his tablet and tabbed through the various Ancient system schematics. His eyes scanned the information, hoping to find some way that would enable him to activate the shut down targeting and AI program that was currently running. He eyes latched upon a set of intricate data, finally finding the area that he was searching for. As he analyzed the information, he paled, his soft voice displaying his shock, "Oh God, there is no fail safe built into it! There's no possible way I can turn it off!"

There was more commotion happening where Sheppard was. Rodney looked up and saw the ghost of Sumner shooting another round at the Colonel. It appeared that the phantom never ran out of bullets. Things really sucked big time. He saw Sheppard stumble, which almost gave him a heart attack, wondering whether the pilot had been hit. But then Sheppard was up again, limping slightly as he made another dash towards some large cabinets.

As if sensing that Rodney was looking at him, Sheppard turned and shouted at him. "Rodney! Will you damn well hurry up! I could really use you finding the shut down button right about now!"

Rodney felt a surge of panic build deep within his chest. Sheppard needed his assistance but looking at the alien device, he couldn't find a solution or a shut down protocol to help his friend out. Sheppard was so doomed!

"There's no _off _button! The Ancients somehow didn't build it into it!" he gasped out the words in a high pitched voice that sounded close to panic.

"_What?!_" Sheppard popped up his head, looking shocked at Rodney's revelation, then quickly ducked down again as a hail of bullets zipped past him. He could hear Sheppard cursing and the ghost of Sumner taunting John, calling him to surrender, blaming Sheppard for his death. Even from where Rodney was, he could see the strain on the pilot's features. The Colonel was obviously fighting the ghostly influence, refusing to allow the darkness of despair and guilt to overpower him. He still ducked the bullets and fought back with iron determination. Rodney suddenly realized that refusing to give up was what made Sheppard who he was.

"_Then try something else!_" Rodney heard Sheppard suddenly shout the instructions angrily back at him.

The words seemed to sink in. If Sheppard refused to give up, then there damn well had to be another solution. He just couldn't see it yet.

"Try something else, try something else… Yes, yes, try something else!" Rodney repeated the words, as his gaze locked upon the alien schematics again, wondering what else he could do. He heard a concerned yell from the doorway; it was Elizabeth who had shouted a warning to Sheppard. Despite knowing that he should be concentrating on the alien device, he looked up to where the Colonel was. His heart pounded in concern as he tried to do two things at once: work on the cube device while at the same time keeping an eye on John Sheppard.

oOo

It was getting harder for Sheppard to avoid the attacks of Sumner's ghost and he knew that he was tiring fast. He wondered how long he would be able to keep up with the strenuous pace. In the last encounter, he hadn't been fast enough, and one of the phantom bullets had clipped him at the side of the leg, just below the knee. The fact that he was still on his feet told him that the hot sting he felt was only a flesh wound and nothing more serious. Yet the waves of guilt that pounded at him were relentless. However, John was glad that he had asked Beckett to ease up on the pain meds for without the drugs flooding his system, he was able to fight off some of the ghostly influence, preventing it from overwhelming him. The down side of that was, more and more, he became aware of his body's injuries and discomfort as he forced his convalescing body to move in ways that did not do an ounce of good for his recovery. Yet, he was only all too aware that he had given up once to Sumner's ghost and he refused to do so again.

"Youuuuu are mmiiine, Sheppard! Yoooouu kiiilled me, yoooouuu deserve toooo dieeee!" the ghost taunted him.

Another shot ran out and he dived for cover. _Damn! That was way too close! What was taking Rodney so damn long in deactivating the friggin' alien device?_ Taking a chance, he lifted his head and shouted at the scientist to speed things up. When Rodney told him that he couldn't find the off-button, Sheppard's heart sank. He wondered how he would be able to defeat the ghost now. Although Rodney could be a pain the ass sometimes, he also knew the scientist well enough to know that the astrophysicist was the only one capable of getting him out of this mess. He had confidence in the man; he just needed a little push sometimes. If there was no shut down button, surely there had to be another way around it. Rodney just had to figure out a way to think outside the square.

"_Then try something else!_" He shouted the words at Rodney. It was all he could afford as his attention was drawn back to the ghost of Sumner.

"You are _not _real! You're the figment of my mind brought on by some friggin' alien device … You _can't_ hurt me!" he stated to the ghostly apparition that was fast approaching him. He thought he sensed a waver or perhaps a pause in the phantom. However, whatever it was, it was only a temporary reprieve for the luminous eyes hardened into hatred. It was a look that he had never seen aimed at him before, even when Colonel Marshall Sumner was still alive. It sent shudders through him; it was as if he was looking into the eyes of the Grim Reaper—the eyes of Death. He was frozen for an instance, and the phantom took that opportunity to strike at him. With a cry of rage, Sumner's ghost attacked, his weapon arm moving to strike Sheppard at the side of head. John ducked, lifting up his bandaged arm to deflect the blow; he had no other choice, after all, his other arm was immobile due to his shoulder wound. The blow was deflected but the jarring impact of his arm hitting against solid metal released a cry of pain from him. Before he could recover, he felt shockingly cold hands of the phantom trap his free hand, gripping his wrist, bending it around until something snapped. Sheppard screamed, seeing a haze of red. Yet, still he fought, twisting his body as he kicked out at the phantom's legs.

His efforts didn't seem to have any impact on the apparition. It felt more solid for some strange reason, more powerful somehow. With his heart thudding hard in his breast, he looked up to see Sumner grinning down at him. Evil laughter rained down on him and Sheppard felt himself being lifted up by the front of his scrubs before a fist slammed viciously into his face. He knew that his nose was broken from the hot pain that erupted from it. He saw stars and tasted blood that poured down into his mouth. Then he was released and for a fleeting moment, he felt the sensation of falling, before his body slammed painfully against the infirmary floor. Biting back a groan, he tried to get up, to crawl away from Sumner's attack, refusing to give in to the waves of darkness that called his name. However, a ghostly boot landed heavily on his heaving chest making it hard for him to breathe. Looking up, he observed the phantom eyes glaring maliciously at him; they reminded him once more of death…

oOo

It was one of the most terrifying sights that Rodney had witnessed in his life. To see Sheppard on the floor, trapped like a bug, and looking at death straight in the eye. Even from where he was, Rodney had heard the earlier crack of Sheppard's nose from the impact of Sumner's attack. It had made him queasy to see the blood gushing out from Sheppard's nose and mouth to splatter like rain drops on the floor. Rodney winced, knowing the agony that Sheppard must be in from his own experience with a broken nose received from one unwelcome phantom by the name of Brendan Gall. In fact, that particular appendage seemed to throb with sympathy pain in sync to what Sheppard must be experiencing at the moment. When he saw Sheppard's body slam against the infirmary floor and Sumner raise the gun towards his friend's head; he knew that if he didn't do something about it, Sheppard would be dead within the next minute. _Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! _The panic monotony ran through his mind like an unstoppable buzzing bee. His gaze fell upon the control schematics again.

_Try something else! _The memory of Sheppard's voice was repeated in his head. Rodney looked down, his scientific mind whirling as never before. _Try something else! Try something else! Try something else! _The words repeated themselves over and over again. Only seconds had passed, but it seemed like a life time. His gaze fell upon a different set of schematics and another idea formed. Grabbing the idea, he felt a rush of adrenalin, knowing what he had to do. If the situation wasn't so desperate, Rodney would have never done what he did. The fear of the consequences would have stopped him – after all he was never suicidal, Sheppard was the one who had the martyr complex, not Rodney, never Rodney.

However, Rodney had no time to consider his actions; all he knew was that if he didn't act immediately, Sheppard would be dead. And he couldn't have that. First save Sheppard's life, then Sheppard would find a way to get him out of the mess he had placed himself in. It was not a conscious thought, but a faith in the other who was his team leader and friend. Perhaps, not necessary his best friend but a close friend nonetheless; some one whom he could count on to never abandon him when he needed him most – perhaps more like family, a brother that he never had.

Rodney's heart was pounding like a runaway train as his hands moved like lightning speed against the alien cube device; he did the only thing he could do under the circumstances. Without a second thought, he typed in the new commands into the alien holographic console; he knew that he couldn't change the name of the target as he didn't know how to do that — there were too many safeguards built around that, but he could change the way of how the phantom perceived certain things….

oOo

Dr. Elizabeth Weir was standing next to O'Neill, Carson and the others; her countenance was as taut as a bow string, her body rigid with tension. Like the majority of them, her gaze was focused at the battle going on between Sheppard and the ghostly apparition of Sumner. Her voice was tinged with urgency as she urged the Colonel to not give up, "Get up, John! Get up!"

Radek however had his attention fixed on something else. He had seen Rodney's frantic movements, he knew that his boss was up to something. Looking at his laptop, he called up the system schematics to see what the astrophysicist was doing. When he finally discovered what Rodney had done, he could not believe his eyes. He never believed that Rodney had it within him to do what he just did. Given the set of circumstances, he wondered whether he would be brave enough to do what Rodney just did.

"Oh dear," Dr. Zelenka muttered worriedly as he pushed his steel framed glasses back onto the bridge of his nose.

"What? What is it?" Carson asked anxiously, looking at Radek and then at Rodney, feeling frustrated that they couldn't do anything to help Sheppard out. He was a physician, a doctor, it was extremely difficult for him to stand around and watch helplessly while the drama enfolded before them especially within his infirmary. It was not in his nature to feel impotent while others died around him. He felt a need to do something, anything. This was his own infirmary, damn it, and he couldn't even get inside it because they were locked out by some bloody force field.

The Czech scientist shot Carson and the others a worried gaze before finally commenting, "Rodney has just reprogrammed the alien program schematics, making phantom Sumner view him as Sheppard instead."

oOo

TBC

_AN: Hands up all of you who think that Shep's out of danger now? McKay fans, see why I couldn't whump the guy earlier? lol. _

_Just so you know, there are things happening in RL that will soon be seriously impacting on my writing time. So, if you want me complete this fic and Mind's eye before then, please continue to review to inspire the bunnies. :)_


	18. The Phantom Menace

**The Ghost of Atlantis**

_AN: Your comments have inspired the bunnies to whip out their little writing pens to produce another chapter as a gift of an early update! Hope you enjoy! Now back to the action..._

**18: The Phantom Menace**

The phantom's boot pressed down a little harder on Sheppard's chest. Any more weight and he knew that his cracked ribs would cave in under the pressure and he would be in deep trouble.

"Sheppaaaaard, youuuu are nooooww mine! Say gooood bye…."

Sumner's ghost grinned evilly at him, his eyes glinting with delight that at last he had his prey in his grasp. The waves of guilt continued to pound relentlessly into John's mind. _Give in to the inevitable soldier. _The voice in his mind seemed to say. _You killed Sumner! You deserve this!_

Sheppard frowned. _No, John, you damn well did what you had to do! _he refuted himself. He refused to accept the blame as he saw the phantom lift the 9mm, aiming it at his head. John glared back evenly at Sumner, it was the only thing he could do, trapped as he was like a bug on a rug. He was basically screwed. However, no matter what, stubbornness reigned and he refused to give the phantom the pleasure of seeing him cowed.

The shimmering finger slowly pressed down on the trigger only to pause halfway. A puzzled look formed on the phantom's gloating features and Sheppard knew the exact moment when Sumner lost interest in him. The look of indifference that suddenly flitted across the luminous eyes was impossible to miss. When John realized what was happening, he felt the flame of hope alight deep within him. His first thought was that Rodney must have found that elusive loophole somehow, that extra _something else _that he so desperately needed. There could be no other explanation. He always knew that he could count on Rodney to use his genius when it really mattered. After all, he had faith in McKay, despite the scientist's over inflated ego and sarcastic personality he was part of his team; he trusted Rodney with his life.

However, when Sumner's ghost lifted his heavy boot away from John's chest and turned to stare intently at Rodney instead, his elation rapidly dissipated to be replaced by feelings of growing concern. He turned to look at Rodney, seeing that the scientist was looking at Sumner's ghost with wide eyed panic written on his face.

"_Rod-ney, what have you done…?_" he asked, the note of wary disapproval clearly evident in his tone. A suspicion was forming; he hoped that he was wrong.

"Sheeerrppparrd! How did youuuu get there?" the apparition finally spoke again. The ghostly voice sounded puzzled as he continued to stare at Rodney.

Sheppard's suspicion was confirmed. He wanted help, but dammit, not help that would endanger Rodney's life. Sometimes for a genius, Rodney could be such an idiot. He cursed silently at the stupidity of his friend.

One thing still puzzled him though. "McKay, why is he calling you Sheppard?"

Rodney was now getting up to his feet, hugging his Tablet PC and alien cube device to his chest, looking almost like a scared rabbit caught in a car's approaching headlights.

"I modified the program!" Rodney gasped out. "It thinks that I'm you now!"

Sheppard pursed his lips and frowned darkly, laying his head back down on the floor again. "_Great!_" he sighed in exasperation. "Smart! Rodney... real smart! And I thought you're meant to be a genius here!"

"Hey!" the scientist defended himself, "I was trying to save you! It was the only thing I could think of!"

oOo

"Well Rodney what're ya waiting for?! Run ye daft bugger!" Rodney heard Carson yell at the top of his lungs.

The shout unfroze Rodney and propelled him into action. However, it also triggered a response from Sheppard's phantom as Sumner suddenly turned and began sprinting towards McKay with a deadly predatory grin on his features. It reminded Rodney of Terminator 2, that mercury-like man who moved with a grace of a killer panther. In fact, he thought that Sumner shared similar looks with Terminator 2, which freaked him out even more. Uttering a yelp of alarm, Rodney high-tailed out from his frozen stance and ran for cover. It was a game of cat and mouse, with the phantom Sumner being the cat and Rodney the mouse.

"Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! What have I done?" Rodney gasped out the question while his heart pounded away in all-out terror. Sheppard was right, he was not smart at all! In fact, he couldn't believe his stupidity at what he had done. His heart was pounding hard and his breathing increased in pace that he was beginning to feel faint. He tried to stop himself from hyperventilating while he blinked away sweat that fell into his eyes. There was a sound behind the cabinet where he was hiding in a crouched position. He took a loud gulp, straightened slowly as he turned to take a careful peek out from behind the cabinet—only to screech like a girl when he saw Sumner's gloating face glaring down at him.

"Sheeeepppparrd! Yooooouuu can't hide from meeeee forever!" the phantom taunted him as Sumner reached out and pushed the cabinet down.

The pitch of his scream reached new heights as Rodney barely managed to escape from the falling cabinet as it smashed to the ground. Medical files and paper work tumbled across the floor, scattering everywhere. In his panic, Rodney dropped the alien cube device and his precious Tablet PC, almost tripping over the items that now littered across the floor.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" he ranted as he scrambled away from Sumner. "I'm _not _Sheppard! I'm _Rodney!_" he shrieked out at the ghost, knowing that it would make no difference what he said but he had to scream out anyway. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. His heart was pumping so hard that he could hear the blood rushing through his ears.

"_Sheppard!_" Rodney shrieked, "I could really use some _help_ here! I saved your life, now it's your turn to save _mine!_" He realized that while the phantom was chasing after him, he felt no bombardment of guilty emotions that he normally felt while in Gall's ghostly presence. That meant that Sheppard must still be feeling its psychic attack. It also meant that in all probability Sheppard was the only one who could defeat it; that is, if he could only overcome his demon somehow. "_Sheppard?! Do you hear me?!_"

More cabinets were flung aside by the phantom as Rodney ran. He was starting to feel like a victim in one of those typical teenage horror movies where he was about to go splat any instance! To make matters worse, it seemed to Rodney that the phantom was getting stronger. Crap! What was taking Teyla and Ronon so long in shutting off the ZPM? he wondered. He knew that the ZPM room was situated quite far from where the infirmary was located. It would take them some time to get there even at their top speed. The fact that the radios weren't working made it worse. Rodney began to panic. His heart started to palpitate when he realized that Radek wouldn't be able to communicate with Teyla as the alien device was jamming out all radio transmissions. They had forgotten about that when Teyla and Ronon had set off for the ZPM room. Rodney prayed that Teyla would be able to remember the procedure on how to turn off the ZPM by herself. If not, then he was so screwed for he was now more than certain that the alien device was making Sumner more powerful by the minute.

oOo

Teyla and Ronon had finally reached the ZPM room. Both the Athosian and Satedan were perspiring heavily and more than a little breathless by the time they arrived there. It wasn't a surprise as they practically ran all the way from the infirmary to a city transporter to their destination. Teyla knew that Ronon could have probably gone faster but he slowed his pace in order for Teyla to keep up. She was grateful for his consideration but at the same time angry with herself that she could not go faster.

When they finally reached the ZPM room, she quickly went to the console and began inputing the commands that she had seen McKay do. It was fortunate that only a few weeks ago he had been instructing her on the process in case she needed to do it herself. However, his instructions had been brief; they were meant to have more lessons another time. None of them thought that Teyla would need to perform the task so soon. She frowned, trying to remember all that Rodney had shown her, hoping she got the sequence of the shut down code correct. As she reached the last command line, she paused, hesitating, trying to recall the exact code that Rodney had used.

"What is it?" Ronon approached, looking impatiently at her, as he strode back and forth where the ZPM was located to where Teyla was standing beside the console.

Teyla gazed up at him; she knew that her face showed her concern. "I am not certain that I remember the last command line."

"Then radio Zelenka," Ronon suggested.

"Yes, that is what I was about to do," Teyla replied, her hand already going to her earpiece. As she tapped the frequency she wanted, all she got was the sound of static. It was at that moment when she recalled that the alien device was jamming all radio transmissions. Her face must have shown her dilemma for when she glanced back at Ronon again, she saw him looking at her darkly.

"No radio signal?" he queried. She nodded, not knowing what else to say. He gave a thunderous scowl and uttered something in Satedan that Teyla took for a curse as he hit his fist on the side of one of the steel cabinets with a loud bang, leaving a dent on it. Dreadlocks flying, he spun back towards her, breathing hard, nostrils flaring in frustration as he leaned his arms forward on the console. "It's okay Teyla. You can do this. Just try to remember what McKay showed you."

She was surprised by the determination and faith that she saw in his dark eyes. She gave him a small grateful smile and nodded. "Yes," she said, pausing to take a deep breath to stare back at the console monitor again. Then with a sigh and a tentative smile, she began typing in the last command code, hoping that it was correct.

When she finished keying in the last entry, she moved to another part of the console and started to press the required buttons in the sequence that Rodney had taught her. Ronon looked questioning at her when she was done. She shrugged and gestured towards the central panel where the ZPM was located.

"Press that red button Ronon," she instructed the Satedan.

He shot her a flitting grin and did as she instructed. Both of them waited with baited breath for the internal illumination of the ZPM to turn off and rise up.

Nothing happened. The ZPM sat in its cradle still powered up, still illuminated.

oOo

"_Rod-ney…!_" Sheppard uttered the scientist's name in exasperation and concern. It took him several attempts to get up as his injuries were making it hard for him to do so. It was by sheer will power alone that he forced his wounded body to move despite the pain of his broken wrist, the throbbing mass of pain at the front of his face, and his barely healed injuries to his chest and shoulder. In fact, his broken nose was making it quite difficult for him to breathe so he decided to breathe through his mouth instead.

He could hear Rodney panicking and screaming out for his help at the top of his lungs. _Dammit! Rodney! _He couldn't let Rodney be the victim of Sumner's attack. If what McKay said was true, the alien device was responsible for enhancing and twisting the guilt that he felt and projecting it into a nightmarish warped version of Sumner's ghost. He could sense the waves of guilt pulsating in him like a living creature, ready to pounce and devour him at the first opportunity. He shook his head, trying to clear his dizziness and assess the situation now that he had made it back to his feet again.

At the door way, he saw Radek busy typing into his laptop before looking up in eager anticipation at the infirmary's forcefield. Whatever the Czech scientist did, the energy shield at the door began to flicker erratically as if powering off, but then it quickly stabilized again to the defeated curses of Zelenka. He saw Elizabeth, Carson and O'Neill staring at him and Rodney with worried expressions on their faces. Breathing noisily, Sheppard waited for his legs to steady under him before trying to move. He felt lightheaded and weak, yet he knew that he had enough power under his steam to do what he had to do regardless of the cost. He would find a way to get rid of Sumner somehow.

He saw Rodney running across the infirmary floor a few paces towards his left. However, with growing alarm, he saw that the scientist was heading towards a situation that would box him into a corner. Yelling out a warning to the scientist to watch where he was going, he saw McKay's eyes widen as he registered John's words. Rodney suddenly stopped and turned around to backtrack his steps. The astrophysicist froze when he saw the ghost of Sumner a little distance away take out the 9mm aiming it at him.

"Oh God! I'm going to die! _Sheppard...!_ Need...! Help...! Here...!"

Adrenalin surged through John when he saw what was about to happen. He began to run towards Rodney, ignoring the various aches and pains that screamed out from his wounded body.

"Youuuuu wiiiilll not escaaaape me a secoooond time, Sheppard!" Sumner's ghost gloated maliciously at McKay.

John's heart started to beat faster. He had to save Rodney! McKay was right, it was his turn to save the day! He saw Sumner take aim and fire.

He shouted the warning at the top of his lungs. "Sumner…! _Noooo! _Rodney_, RUN!_"

At the same time he sprang forward, leaping sideways, placing his body in the path of the bullet like those crazy leaps he saw bodyguards did in order to save lives. For a few terrifying seconds everything seemed to move in slow motion: the bullet left the barrel of the gun, flying straight towards Rodney before Sheppard's body came in the way taking the bullet meant for McKay. But instead of feeling red hot pain shatter through his chest, John felt something icy hit him with a different force as the phantom bullet ripped past his chest to come out on the other side. It had only partially slowed down the bullet but it wasn't good enough to stop the projectile from hitting Rodney, flinging the scientist backwards onto the infirmary floor.

As if time sped up again, John felt his body slam violently on the ground, making him see stars. The impact caused him more pain than the phantom bullet that had sped through him. Ignoring the screams of his bruised body and refusing to think about what the phantom bullet would do to him later, Sheppard forced himself to turn around, his gaze darting towards his friend, frantic with concern for Rodney's well being. His eyes widened in horror as he saw Rodney lying on the floor gasping in shock almost like a fish out of water. But the worse part of all was the alarming red stain that was blossoming at the top of Rodney's shirt.

TBC


	19. The Final Countdown

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Thank you so much to all who reviewed! It kept me working on this despite unpredictable plot bunnies. This chapter was one of those chapters where I kinda knew where the story was heading but had trouble writing it. So it meandered along at an annoying snail's pace and I could only add to it whenever the bunnies decided to behave. For those of you who are concerned about it, no, there will be no kissy-wissy scenes between Shep and Sumner here. LOL :D_

**19: The Final Countdown**

Turning around, Rodney gasped in horror as he saw Sheppard fling himself onto the path of the oncoming bullet. When he saw the phantom bullet come out harmlessly from the Colonel's back, he realized what had happened and started to run. But it was too late and he felt the white hot pain of the bullet hit him in the shoulder, pitching him violently backwards to land painfully on the infirmary floor with a loud thud.

Pain exploded all over and he whimpered and gasped in shock unable to believe what had just happened. His hand shook as it moved to the source of his wound, feeling wetness there. He lifted his fingers and stared at the blood in alarm mouthing, "Oh God! _I've been shot!_"

"Sheppaaaaarrrrd! Youuuu are mine noooooow!" The ghost of Sumner approached him, the 9mm still in his hand.

"Sheppard! Need…. Help…. Here!" Rodney cried out in growing panic as he saw John half lying a few feet away from him. John turned and was staring at him with a shocked and horrified look on his face.

"Sheppard, you can stop Sumner! I _know _you _can_!"

In rising panic, his heart rate started to accelerate, thereby increasing the bleeding of his shoulder wound. _Not good! Not good! _His mind yammered in terror. _This is soooo not good! _It looked like he was bleeding way too much. Had he been hit in the artery or something? Through the mists of shock and pain, he was beginning to feel light headed and faint.

He turned back to stare at the pilot. He could see the Colonel shaking his head and shutting his eyes, trying to fight against the ghost's psychic attack. Instinctively, he knew that it wasn't an easy battle for Sheppard. Would he be able to overcome his demons? He saw Sumner taking another step closer towards him. If Sheppard failed in this, Rodney knew that he wouldn't have to wait to bleed to death because the phantom of Sumner would finish the job for him.

He was unable to rein in the growing panic—it surfaced like a wild animal caught in a hunter's trap. When Rodney saw the phantom Sumner lift the gun, cocking it and aiming it at his head, he squeezed his eyes shut screaming, "_Sheppard! Do something!_"

oOo

"I must have inputted the code wrong," Teyla said, feeling disappointed with herself while trying to curb the first flutter of panic from rising in the pit of her stomach. What if she couldn't do this? What if she couldn't remember the correct command sequence to turn off the ZPM? John and Rodney were counting on her. Doubts began to form in her mind. Ronon must have sensed this because suddenly he was there beside her, making eye contact, anchoring her to what she had to do.

"That's okay, Teyla, try again." Ronon said calmly. "Sheppard would never give up; he would want you to try again."

Teyla looked up at the Satedan's dark eyes and gave him a weak smile. "Yes, you are correct," she replied, forcing the stirrings of panic to flee from the pit of her stomach. It was something that all of them knew about Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. He never gave up on his team. He would always try again until he succeeded. This meant that his team would also never give up on him or on Rodney; it was a code that Sheppard had taught them and it was something that his team lived by.

Taking a deep breath, she now closed her eyes, calming down her accelerated breathing, which in turn slowed down her pounding heart. She centered herself, going into a brief meditated state. In the calmness of her spirit, she knew she would find the answer that she was looking for. So she tuned out everything, her concerns and fears for John and Rodney, her surroundings, even Ronon who was standing close beside her. She concentrated solely on her breathing, the essence of her core and took her memory back to the time when Rodney had been instructing her on what to do. It was as if she was having an out of body experience for she could almost hear the astrophysicist's voice in her mind as she watched him do his work in her mind's eye. She silently observed the sequence of commands that he typed in the Ancient console, noting what she had done wrong. Suddenly she was pulled back to the present again. She opened her eyes. She saw Ronon staring anxiously at her.

She smiled at him. "I have the answer," she stated confidently. The Satedan returned her smile with a wolfish grin. She knew then that he never doubted her ability to deliver the required results. They were a team, family, which meant that they trusted in each other's abilities.

Quickly she turned her attention back to the Ancient console and started over, inputting the code with confidence now. When she completed that task, she began pressing the buttons in the sequence that was required. Smiling now, she nodded at Ronon who had positioned himself beside the lighted ZPM.

The Satedan pressed the red button as he did earlier. There was the sound of the ZPM powering down, but halfway it jammed, refusing to budge from its cradle.

"Dr. Zelenka said that we need to push it!" Teyla said. Ronon nodded and squaring his shoulders, he grabbed the ZPM and gave it a big pull. For a moment, it resisted him, but then there was a soft click as if something inside gave way: the internal illumination of the ZPM turned off and the rest rose up by itself.

"You did it Ronon!" Teyla cry out in excitement.

Dex looked at her and gave a ferocious grin. "_We_ did it!"

oOo

There was a beep on Dr. Zelenka's laptop. Still reeling the horror of seeing Rodney shot down, Czech scientist immediately looked down at his computer screen.

At the same time the lights above them flickered dimming considerably.

"What's happening?" Dr. Carson Beckett asked as he looked above at the dimmed lights and stared back in anguish at scene in his infirmary. "We have to do something! That phantom is gonna kill Rodney!"

"The ZPM is off line!" Radek informed them excitedly. "Teyla and Ronon did it!"

"That's good news, Radek. Can you do anything to shut down the forcefield?" Weir asked anxiously, a concerned frown forming in between her brows as she looked at Zelenka; her hands folded together, hugging across her chest.

Radek nodded vigorously. "I think so. It should be easier now as alien device does not have to ZPM's power to maintain it." He narrowed his eyes and he began to rapidly type on the keyboard.

oOo

Jack checked his side arm, a force of habit, despite knowing that it won't have any effect on the phantom in the infirmary. He was feeling restless just standing there, not being able to do anything. He turned towards Carson, noting that the Scottish doctor's face was awash with distress at having to stand outside with the rest of them, unable to get into his own infirmary while his friends were getting hurt. He knew that Beckett was aching to tend to the astrophysicist who was now bleeding on the floor. McKay had been very brave, in fact the scientist's actions had surprised him. When he had time, he would re-evaluate his earlier assessment of the astrophysicist as a self-centered arrogant bastard.

Their view of the battle that had gone on in the infirmary had been partially blocked by furniture and medical equipment. It looked like Sheppard had been trying to stop the phantom but he had failed because suddenly they saw Rodney flying backwards, obviously hit by a bullet. When that happened, Carson unthinkingly, had tried to rush through the energy shield, so desperate was he to tend to the wounded that he had forgotten why they were standing outside the infirmary door in the first place. Fortunately, Jack had been standing beside the Scottish's doctor and he reached out and pulled the physician back just in time before the physician could hurt himself unwittingly.

"For crying out loud, doc, there's a damn forcefield around the infirmary door! Getting yourself hurt will _not_ help those two men in there!"

He saw the anguish and the great desire to help Sheppard and McKay being reflected in the doctor's eyes, but the Scotsman calmed down and nodded at him silently. He knew that they needed to be patient. They needed to wait for Radek to lower the shield down first before they could enter the infirmary safely.

Both men heard the Czech scientist say something in excitement.

"What? Did you get it?" Jack asked impatiently.

Radek looked up at them above the steel frames of his glasses. "I think we're almost there," he replied. The Czech scientist looked back down at his laptop, wiry fingers flying across the keyboard, obviously getting closer to his objective. Jack O'Neill knew that the Czech scientist was trying his best, but he just wished that Radek's best could be faster.

oOo

"You kiiiiilled me Sheppard, when youuuuu could have saaaveed me," accused Sumner's ghost. "Noooowwww it's time foooor you to dieeeee!"

John Sheppard felt the words strike him like painful bards hitting his soul. In the midst of the overwhelming guilt that pounced at him, he heard Rodney's pain filled voice shouting that only he had the power to defeat his own ghost. He saw the phantom approach Rodney closer, the ghostly hand moving to aim the 9mm at the scientist's head.

_Dammit! _He couldn't allow McKay to die just because he couldn't handle his own demons! He recalled what the others said about how they managed to overcome their phantoms by overriding the feelings of guilt with feelings of love. Well, there was no love lost between Sumner and him; so that approach was definitely out of the question. He wanted to save Rodney's life and that desire was over powering the guilt that he was experiencing at the moment. He knew that there was an excruciating circumstance of why he had to shoot Sumner. He was aware that the alien device had been corrupting his view of things, working to enhance his sense of guilt to the point of self-loathing, trying to use it against him to destroy him. He thought about all the losses he had experienced while serving in the Air Force on Earth as well as on Atlantis, and a slow anger began to build within him.

_Pull yourself together John! You're a soldier - sometimes you have to make command decisions... Sometimes people die! You can't safe everybody! _His mind screamed out the words when he realized the truth of them, the epiphany giving him strength. He saw the phantom of Sumner flicker erratically and felt the waves of guilt bombarding him ease back a little. However, Sumner was still aiming the 9mm at Rodney's head. Any minute now, the phantom could still pull the trigger and Rodney would be dead.

Sheppard pursed his lips, suddenly knowing what he had to do. Rodney's life depended on him and he damn well wasn't about to let the scientist down. Rodney had saved his life back there when Sumner's ghost had him within its grasp, buying him time; it was time that he returned the favor.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to delve back to one of his most painful memories of the past. His mind went back to the event that had forced him to shoot Sumner. He recalled arriving and seeing an aged Sumner being fed upon by the female wraith. The pain of the memory was like a raw wound within him. He recalled his horror and his desire to save Sumner. He remembered shooting the female wraith, seeing his bullets punch into the wraith's body; the revulsion he felt when the bullet wounds began to heal themselves as she continued to feed on Sumner. He remembered aiming the P90 at the wraith's head, getting ready to pull the trigger. However, something in Sumner's aged and pain riddled face caught his attention. For a briefest moment, their eyes locked and he felt as if he could hear Sumner's voice in his mind. _"Do it, Sheppard! I am dead anyway. End it now before she takes anymore information from my mind!" _

It was the nod of approval that Colonel Sumner gave him that finally did it for him. It was almost as if it confirmed what he thought his dying commander wanted. He knew that it was what he would have wanted if their situations had been reversed. Better to have a clean death rather than having your life sucked dry by the enemy. There was nothing he could do to save Sumner. Too much of his life had already been taken. He looked to be a man of ninety instead of his forty something odd years. It was a more merciful end. Reluctantly, he had shifted his aim from the wraith's head and fired the single shot that went through the wraith's hand and into Sumner's heart killing him instantly.

Time seemed to move forward and another memory resurfaced. John recalled what Colonel Everett, close friend of Marshall Sumner, said to him after the man had lost most of his life subsequent to being fed upon by the wraith during the siege at Atlantis.

_"I… owe you an apology,"_ Everett had said.

_"No, sir, you don't."_

_"I think I have a pretty good idea,"_ Everett had continued, _"I would have done the same thing as you did when you found Colonel Sumner. It's what I wanted to tell you."_

_"Well, none of that matters right now, sir," _he had replied, yet grateful to hear the words.

_"I'm trying to say ..." _Everett replied, ignoring him, his gaze hard as he tried to repress his emotion. "_I wish you had been there for **me**._"

Sheppard knew then that Everett wanted death. He preferred it than to be reduced to the aged and fragile body that he was left with; made all the more difficult because not so long ago he had been a fit man, a marine, proud of his physical strength and attributes. In a matter of minutes, the wraith had stolen his life and reduced him to a shadow of a man, more dead than alive. As a soldier, Everett preferred dying in battle - a clean, swift death, even if it was given by a brother-in-arms. However, standing in that infirmary, all Sheppard could give Everett was an Officer's salute. He didn't think it was enough for Colonel Everett.

Hazel eyes snapped open, suddenly realizing that he had done his best for Colonel Sumner under the circumstance. He realized that Sumner too had realized that and he preferred the end he was given. Sometimes he couldn't save everyone and in war soldiers died. He already knew that with the loss of Holland, Mitch and Dex – people whom he considered his friends. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't save them. But in Sumner's case it had been different, not so much that he died, or the fact that he wasn't a friend, but because it was the first time that he had to fire a shot that killed a CO. But now he realized that he never had a choice in the matter. In the end, he did the right thing. In the end, he gave Sumner the death he wanted.

"_Sumner!_" He shouted the name at the phantom. The fires of truth had lighted in him, burning away the guilt that had been enhanced and corrupted by the alien cube device.

For the first time since the ghost started attacking Rodney, Sumner's phantom froze as it slowly turned its head to listen to John's words.

"I realize something now," Sheppard said assertively. "What you've been saying isn't true. I didn't murder you, Sumner! I didn't want your commission, nor did I even want you to die, no matter how much I hated that smug attitude of yours. Do you hear me?"

He was surprised with the phantom replied a soft, "Yesssss…."

Taking a deep breath he continued, his voice tensed. "Although I wished that things could have turned out differently," John stated, "I did the only thing that could be done. There was only one choice there. You were dying, Sumner, I couldn't stop that, so I gave you the thing that you asked for…."

He saw Sumner's ghost turn its head to stare at him in an unreadable look. He thought that he got to it, but then the phantom gave him a sickening smile. "Goooood bye Sheppard!" the ghost of Sumner said as he pulled the trigger and fired the last shot.

"Nooo!!" John cried out in shock, feeling fear overwhelm him, screaming out the words, "_I saved you Sumner! I gave you a merciful death!_"

oOo

Rodney was fading quickly, blood was pouring out from him by the gallons. As if from afar he heard Sheppard's words speaking to the ghost, trying to reason with it. When the phantom turned to look at Sheppard, Rodney felt a flare of hope, he couldn't believe this but somehow, Sheppard did the impossible and managed to turn the phantom's attention to his real self, not the illusion of Sheppard that he saw in Rodney.

He almost thought that Sheppard had done it, saved the day, thereby saving his life in the process before he bled to death on the infirmary floor. However, when he heard Sumner's last words and heard the shot fire, he knew that he was a dead man. John Sheppard had failed. _Oh God, this is it! I'm a dead man! _The thought crossed his mind as he waited for the phantom bullet to splatter his brains across Carson's nice infirmary floor. However, to his surprise he saw the racing bullet suddenly dissipate into thin air, leaving only a trail of harmless smoke behind. The ghost of Sumner turned and gave Rodney a strange look before fading away too as if it never existed.

Wide eyed, Rodney stared at the emptiness before him. He couldn't believe it, Sheppard did it! At the last moment, Sheppard did it! He had defeated his own ghost. He had laid his ghost to rest! He wanted to rejoice, to shout in joy, to do anything else but to lay there bleeding to death. Darkness was invading his vision and he was finding it difficult to see. He tried to fight against it, but he couldn't do anything. A familiar voice called his name and he felt a floating sensation as he disconnected from his body, leaving the pain behind.

oOo

Seeing Rodney lying so still, John Sheppard forced his hurting body to move as he scrambled across the floor to reach his injured friend.

"_Rodney!_" he cried out, feeling the surge of panic building deep within him as he placed his left hand across Rodney's chest, feeling alarmed when he couldn't detect a pulse.

"I _didn't _defeat Sumner just for you to _die _on the floor! _Dammit Rodney! _Do you _hear _me?!"

There were sounds of hurried footsteps in the infirmary, looking up he saw Carson, Radek, Jack and Elizabeth running towards them. Somehow they must have gotten through the forcefield, or perhaps with the disappearance of Sumner's phantom, the energy field around the infirmary door had shut down. Sheppard didn't know nor care - all that mattered was for Carson to save McKay's life. With his broken wrist and other various injuries, John knew that he in no condition to perform CPR.

"Carson! Rodney's _not_ breathing! And I … I _can't _find a _pulse!_"

oOo

Waiting was like agony for Dr. Carson Beckett. He was a blooming doctor for heaven's sake! He was meant to save lives and not stand around waiting for Zelenka to shut down the forcefield while two of his closest friends got hurt. He wondered how many gray hairs he got that day, just by having to bloody wait helplessly on end.

When Radek finally managed to shut down the energy shield, Carson had been the first one off, moving as fast as he could with his crutches towards the two men lying on the floor of his infirmary. His heart almost stopped beating when he heard Sheppard call out to him, telling him about Rodney's condition. _Oh dear Lord, that couldn't be good!_

"Bloody hell!" Beckett uttered; his face darkening as he hobbled in a sprint towards the two men on his crutches as fast as he could. He wondered what gunshot trauma he would find once he finally reached the astrophysicist. Bursts of pain pulsed up his wounded leg and ribs, throbbing in synch with his hammering heart. He ignored them all, pushing them aside as he struggled to reach his friends in time.

When he finally reached his destination, he shot Sheppard a brief glance, noting the pilot's paleness and his swallow breathing. The Colonel didn't look too good but he seemed to be able to hold on his own, not too injured despite the broken wrist that John cradled close to his chest.

"See to Rodney, doc!" Sheppard indicated urgently. "I'm okay." He knew that John feared for the scientist, just as he did.

"Aye," he replied, his attention shooting towards Dr. Rodney McKay. The first thing that he noticed was that Rodney was too damn still, which was the first sign that something was terribly wrong. He also noticed that Rodney was bleeding profusely from a shoulder wound. Bloody hell, it looked like Rodney had received an injury quite similar to Sheppard's first injury. His mind was already accessing what he needed to do at lightning speed. He instructed Radek and Jack to lift Rodney's body to the infirmary bed so that he could treat him as he couldn't bend down with the cast around his leg.

Jack O'Neill and Radek Zelenka quickly complied to his instructions. Sheppard was forgotten from his mind as he now began working to save Rodney's life. With cracked ribs, he won't be a good candidate to give Rodney CPR; he'll have to rely on O'Neill to do the job.

"You'll have to do the CPR, General," he said urgently, knowing that Jack had enough experience for it; after all he did CPR on Major Lorne.

Jack nodded understanding instantly and not needing further explanations. However, Carson saw him grimace and the doctor wondered whether O'Neill found the idea of giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to Rodney distasteful. Carson knew that Jack didn't think much of their resident scientist. However all O'Neill said was, "Right. I'm onto it doc," before leaning over McKay giving him chest compressions, then tilting up his head slightly backwards to clear an airway for mouth to mouth resuscitation.

For a General, Carson noted that Jack could make a good field medic. He shouted instructions to Zelenka to bring the defibrillator, while he applied a pressure bandage to Rodney's shoulder wound. It would be better if he had someone to hold it, glancing around, he saw Elizabeth speaking to Sheppard who was now leaning beside an infirmary wall. Sheppard could hold on his own for the moment, right now, he needed her to apply the pressure bandage as Zelenka returned with the defibrillator.

"Elizabeth!" Carson called her name, "I need your help over here, lass!"

oOo

With the alien device now no longer jamming radio frequencies, Weir tapped her earpiece and called for more doctors and nurses to report to the infirmary. As Carson and the others saw to Rodney, Elizabeth headed towards John, not liking the way he looked as he stared mutely at the activity going around Rodney.

John looked fatigued, worried and very much in pain. She noticed that he was cradling his broken wrist close to his chest. She approached him and placed a comforting hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"Hey. You okay, John?" she asked.

oOo

John was starting to feel a slow coldness creep into him. With everybody fighting to save Rodney's life, he sat where he was staring at the battle that he could do nothing about. His heart was pounding and he wanted to go to Rodney, to help Carson in some way, but he felt exhausted and he no longer seemed to have any strength left in him. Suddenly he felt a warm hand on his right shoulder.

"Hey. You okay John?" Looking up he saw Elizabeth looking down at him in concern, her gaze going from his eyes to his broken, misshapen wrist that he was cradling carefully with his left hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied wearily, giving her a wane smile, ignoring how much his battered body was hurting him. "Rodney needs help…." His eyes turned back towards the commotion that was going round Rodney's body. He could not pull his gaze away from his friend. Had he been too late? Had he failed in saving one of his closest friends? Please God, don't let it be so, don't let it be too late. He had been too late too many times, what with Holland, Mitch, Dex and even Sumner; those whom he failed to save in time. Worry and fear for Rodney's well being consumed him. He was meant to protect Rodney not the other way round. He was the soldier, Rodney the scientist. Things were not meant to happen this way.

"I know, John," Elizabeth replied, her hand gripping his shoulder anchoring him, enabling him not to break down as she helped him move so that he now had his back leaning more comfortably against the wall. "Carson will see to him. He'll be all right, John." Elizabeth said as she tried to reassure him.

A small pain was slowly building in his chest, making John frown slightly, wondering about it. He wondered whether he should mention it to Elizabeth. But he didn't want to detract any attention away from the help that Rodney needed. So he decided to remain silent. First let them see to Rodney, he'll tell them about it later. He could wait. At that moment, they heard Carson calling for Elizabeth's assistance to apply the pressure bandage on Rodney's wound. Elizabeth looked torn between wanting to help Carson and not wanting to leave John's side. It was almost as if she sensed that something was not right with him. Green eyes regarded John with concern.

Sheppard met her gaze determinedly. "I'll be okay, Elizabeth." Sheppard gave her a wry smile. "Go help Carson with Rodney."

He did not allow her to see the agony that was expanding deep in his chest. It was getting worse with each breath that he took. He saw Elizabeth give him a nod as she left his side to help Carson. _First let Carsonhelp Rodney, then he can help me, _Sheppard told himself again. _Rodney can not die…. Rodney has to make it!_

Left alone, leaning against the wall of Carson's infirmary, Sheppard grimaced again, chocking back a gasp of pain as his left hand now moved to grip the center of his chest. Sharp pain now spiked deep within him, he was finding it difficult to breathe. Something trickled at the back of his throat. He gave a low cough and was startled to taste a familiar metallic copper taste in his mouth. When he released his hand over his mouth, he was alarmed to see it covered with blood. The pain in his chest grew in intensity, spreading to all his limbs, his vision was also blurring; the coldness inside him expanding dramatically.

It was then that he recalled the phantom bullet passing through his chest; he knew that he was in serious trouble. He wanted to cry out, to ask for help but by then he was too late and he found that he did not have any strength or breath left in him to do so. A floating sensation invaded his bones. He couldn't hold on any longer and without a word he let himself slip away.

With everyone's attention focused on Rodney, nobody noticed Sheppard's eyes flutter close and his body collapsing limply on the cold infirmary floor.

oOo

TBC


	20. Da Light! Da Light!

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Big thanks to all those who reviewed! You guys are the greatest. As a result, I've made extra effort to do a quicker update as I didn't want to leave you guys hanging.  
_

**20: Da Light! Da Light!**

Rodney felt shocked and bewildered as he found himself standing outside his body in an incorporeal form, looking down at Sheppard as the pilot frantically called his name and placed a hand on his motionless form.

He wondered whether he was dead. "Sheppard?" he called a little hesitantly, but the pilot didn't seem to hear him.

"_Hello Rodney._" A familiar voice greeted him from behind.

Rodney turned and screamed out a high-pitched "Aargh!" almost jumping out of his translucent body when he saw the ghost of Brendan Gall standing behind him.

"I... I thought I got rid of you!" he squeaked, suddenly wondering what the heck was going on.

Brendan smiled sadly at him. "You did, Rodney. At least you did of the phantom Brendan that was created from your subconscious or perhaps I should say from your overriding guilt," Gall explained and gave him a disapproving grimace. "Relax Rodney and stop looking at me like that. It's really me this time, the _real_ Dr. Brendan Gall, not some wacko ghost created out from that strange mind of yours."

"Are you sure?" Rodney asked cautiously. "Hey! My mind isn't strange! For the record, I have more brain cells than you! Hmm, actually how can I be sure, that it's the real you this time?"

Brendan looked annoyed. "_Really_…, McKay, can you honestly see me returning as a screaming, haunting murderous ghost saying '_I wanted youuuu to saaaave me!_' and followed by '_Die Rodney! Die?!_' I mean, come on, Rodney, even you gotta give me more credit than that!"

"Hey hey hey! I'll have you know that you or whatever that specter was, was trying to kill me! See these?" he pointed to his facial injuries. "That phantom with _your_ face injured me! I barely escaped with my life!"

Brendan waved his accusations off. "Oh, enough with the melodramatics already, Rodney! Actually," Brendan continued, "you did it to yourself, Rodney. That ghost was the result of your own guilty subconscious enhanced and brought to life by that alien device. But did it take you a long time to figure that out, if it had been me, the mystery would have been solved so much sooner."

Rodney felt annoyed but he was feeling less panicky, this certainly sounded like the real Brendan. He remembered how annoying the scientist used to be when he was alive. They were always competitive. "Humph, well, what's to say that are you aren't still that Brendan, a figment of my imagination, huh?"

"I could be, but if I were, wouldn't I be bombarding you with feelings of guilt and trying to blow your head off right about now? Sorry to disappoint you, McKay, but I'm the real deal this time."

The fear in Rodney receded, knowing that he couldn't argue with logic. He stopped and stared at Gall, studying the ghost from head to toe. He realized that Brendan was right, he didn't sense any maliciousness animating from the ghostly figure. In fact, the Brendan that stood before him now was the same Brendan that he remembered when he last saw him alive, only younger, before he had the life drained from him by the super wraith.

"Huh. So what are you doing here? Actually wait, what am _I _doing here?" he asked curiously. "Am I dead?" He did not think he liked the consequences of that. He wondered whether he should attempt to return to his body. If he tried to lie back into his own body could he become stuck to his physical self again like super glue or something? Somehow he didn't think it worked that way.

"Let's just say that you're in-between worlds at the moment, Rodney," Brendan explained vaguely. "But I don't think you're meant to be here actually. I believe you still have lots of things to do in the Pegasus galaxy."

"Really? Like inventing some brilliant scientific discovery that benefits all humanity and me winning the Nobel prize, perhaps?" McKay asked with a smirk, his chest puffing up with growing pride as he considered it.

Brendan laughed. "You're never change, Rodney. Still the same old Rodney that I used to remember. No... I take that back, actually you _have _changed, and I think for the better..."

"Humph... Well, what are you doing here, Brendan?" he asked, watching curiously as O'Neill and Zelenka carried his body towards an infirmary bed. He took another look at Sheppard and his concern for the pilot eased when he saw Elizabeth approach the injured man.

Brendan gave another sad, unreadable smile. "Let's just say that I've been given an opportunity to put things right between us."

"Oh? Er… nothing to do with revenge, I hope," Rodney asked, suddenly feeling fearful again. Did Gall come back to finish him off, he wondered? Was he going to show him to the Pearly White Gates?

Brendan laughed and Rodney was sure that Gall read his mind. "Geez, Rodney, surely I'm not _that _bad! What I meant to say is that you did good out there on that planet where I died. Even when you wanted to go and save Sheppard, I knew that you didn't go because you wanted to stay and look after me. I was wrong in what I did. I know it now; I should have convinced you somehow that it would have been okay if you left me and helped Sheppard first, maybe then the both of us could have survived that day. I don't blame you for my death Rodney, in fact, I never had. If it's anyone to blame, it was me for my own stupidity at taking my own life and of course the guilt that I caused you as a result of it."

"Oh...," Rodney did not know what to say and was at a loss of words. Yet he felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders at hearing Brendan tell him that. He looked at Brendan and noticed that the man looked sad.

"Actually," Rodney confessed, "I'm not sure whether I would have left you if you hadn't done what you did. After all, I belong to Sheppard's team of 'Never leave a man behind' remember?"

Brendan smiled. "Yes, but you could have left first and come back for me later, which meant that you _wouldn't _have left me behind. I could have waited where I was until you and Sheppard dealt with the wraith first. I… I was just too impatient to end it. I never told you how I really felt. I only remembered seeing my face, knowing that the wraith had taken so much of my life, and I wanted to end it all. I didn't really do it for selfless reasons, Rodney, sure I wanted you to go and help Sheppard, I could see that you wanted to, but I also felt that I couldn't go back to Atlantis looking the way I did…. I guess what I'm trying to say, Rodney, is that I should have tried to convince you to leave me and help Sheppard rather than taking matters in my own hands. I shouldn't have killed myself."

Rodney turned back to his former work associate. He really couldn't think of Brendan as friends. "So… are you happy wherever you are now?" he asked, suddenly feeling a sense of concern.

Brendan looked down at his feet. "Let's just say that I'm paying for the crime of taking my own life, which is why I'm still a wandering ghost you could say. After all, it's still considered murder, with the exception that I did it to myself." When Rodney opened his mouth to protest, Gall halted him with a murky look and shook his head. "But it wasn't done solely for the purpose of ending it all; despite me having selfish motivations behind it, there was a part of me that wanted you to go help Sheppard. I thought I was dead anyway or at least, would be dead a little later rather than sooner. But, anyway, in answer to you question, you could say that I've been given a second chance."

"A second chance?" Rodney asked, feeling really confused now.

"Yeah, once I've done paying for my past sins, I'll get to go into the Light. I'm here now to tell you that you don't have to feel guilty anymore and to assist you help out a friend whose time might be closer to death than yours, Rodney."

"What?!" Rodney gasped out, feeling puzzled and more than a little alarmed. "Who?" He didn't need an answer to that question as something in his mind clicked and he remembered seeing the phantom bullet going through Sheppard's chest. Delayed reaction, a person with a strong ATA gene would be harmed by such an injury, perhaps fatally.

"Oh God! _Sheppard!!!_" he cried, turning around to look at John. His eyes widened when he saw Sheppard sitting by himself. He saw the pilot coughing out blood, grimacing in pain and his felt fear wash over him. When Sheppard collapsed silently unnoticed by the others, Rodney found himself panicking – Sheppard was dying and nobody knew about it as everyone was focused on saving his life! He didn't want Sheppard to die. He had to let the others know about Sheppard's dire condition!

"We've got to help him!" he turned back to Brendan, feeling helpless and desperate. "Is there anything we can do to save him? We've got to get the others to help him!"

Brendan shook his head glumly. "I can't do anything about it, Rodney. They can't see me, I've been dead far too long, and I was never close to any of them. However, you on the other hand, might be able to do something about it."

"What? What are you talking …" Rodney halted mid sentence as a light bulb suddenly turned on and he snapped his fingers. "Yes, I see what you mean. They're trying to save me now; their thoughts and focus will be on me. So, are you trying to say that I'll be able to make them see me somehow?!"

Brendan nodded with a smile. "Hmm, I see you haven't lost all your brain cells yet, Rodney. However, if you are determined enough, you can communicate to those in the living world by concentrating on anyone who is thinking about you at that moment. If their thoughts are focused on you, it's possible that you could project the image of yourself to the living world and communicate with them. Usually for us ghosts, it's easier to enter someone's dreams than to physically manifest ourselves. If you want to try this, I suggest you do so now before—" Brendan broke off as he suddenly turned, looking towards his right, and Rodney sensed a moment of tensed silence.

"What?" Rodney asked, feeling alarmed, "What is it?!"

"You might be too late, Rodney…" Brendan replied sadly.

"_What? Why?!_"

Brendan pointed his hand somewhere towards their right. "Look over there, he has seen the Light. He'll be going to it."

"_Who?!_" Rodney turned and to his horror, realized what had happened. "Oh, crap!" he uttered as he saw the corporeal form of John Sheppard standing a several feet away, walking towards a dim but beautiful flickering light that shone from the somewhere above him.

"I've got to stop him!" Rodney cried in alarm about to rush to John.

"No! Rodney! You _can't_ stop him from _dying!_ You could possibly _delay_ him from entering the Light, but only if there's something strong enough to hold him back here _and _only if he _wants _to. But if there's no one attending to his injuries, he'll still die anyway and nothing we do will be able to stop that. So your only possible chance is to get Sheppard help!"

Rodney looked at Brendan's ghostly features. "Right, okay! But first I've got to talk to Sheppard, to prevent him from entering the Light before I do anything else!" He ran towards John, his heart beating in alarm. _Don't go in there Sheppard_, he wanted to cry out, somehow instinctively knowing that if any of them entered the Light there would be no returning to Atlantis, no second chance.

"_Sheppard!!! _" he shouted the name at the top of his lungs. He saw John pause before turning to stare at him in confusion.

"Rodney?" the Colonel stated a little hesitantly. "What are you doing here?" the pilot asked, before turning back to look at the Light. Sheppard looked distracted, confused and obviously drawn towards the Light. "It's beautiful Rodney… I really need to go now…" he muttered softly to himself.

"_NO!_" Rodney cried in alarm. "No! You can't! _Please_ Sheppard, _wait_ for a while, just… _don't _go yet… It's not your time, we still need you in Atlantis, and there's something that I have to do first!"

Sheppard frowned. "What are you talking about Rodney? This is all a dream isn't it?"

Rodney felt confused. "Don't you remember? Your battle with Sumner? You saving my life? Never mind… Look … just… just stay there, _don't move!_ Don't go further into the Light, you hear me?!"

Sheppard's frown deepened. "I don't remember anything, Rodney. All I know is that I have to go now." He turned back towards the Light, placing a hand over his eyes as if the glare was too intense for him to look at it. Rodney looked at the Light, to him it wasn't that bright, but he could feel the first stirrings calling at him. It was faint, but he knew that if he stared at it longer, it would get brighter, clearer and more difficult to resist.

"It _calls _to me … Rodney," Sheppard revealed softly turning his head to look at it again. There was so much longing in the pilot's eyes. "I must go to it. It's … I feel that it's the right thing for me to do. I've never felt so much peace before, I think I'm about to go home, Rodney."

"_NO! Sheppard, you can't!" _Rodney reached out and grabbed Sheppard's forearm in a fierce grip, pulling him back, trying to anchor his dying friend somehow. He saw Sheppard look at him in surprise.

"Look! Just stay where you are, okay? Just… _Don't move!_" Rodney cried out panicking more than a little. He looked at the Light, it wasn't very bright for him, but already he could feel more of it pulling at his soul, he knew that for Sheppard it must be ten times worse. He forced his gaze to turn back towards Brendan.

"Why can't he remember? What's going on with Sheppard?"

Brendan looked at Sheppard; there was a look of longing in Gall's features. "He has seen the Light, Rodney. I can only sense it because it's so close by, because it calls to him, but I can not see it because I do not belong there yet. Sheppard, he's different. He sees it, and it welcomes him, it makes him forget everything else. That's why he can't remember anything; it makes it easier for the ones to cross over. As for you Rodney, you're somewhere in between, but if you stay here longer, it'll start to call you too and pretty soon it'll be too late for you to return to Atlantis."

"Who are you talking to Rodney?" They heard Sheppard's puzzled voice ask.

Rodney turned to glance at John. "So, you can't see Brendan?" he asked, surprised.

John frowned. "Brendan who?"

"Nevermind! Just don't move, promise me, Sheppard! Just stay where you are!" Rodney replied, feeling irritated, not liking the turn of events. He turned back towards Gall. "So, why can't he see you?" he demanded.

Brendan shook his head. "That's because we were never close and I'm here because of you Rodney. In killing myself, I caused you harm, that is, you carried feelings of guilt over my actions, which is a debt that I owe you. Sheppard sees you because he's close to you, he considers you a friend and he's willing to wait even though every part of him is screaming for him to cross over to the Light…. He sees you, Rodney, because you're already halfway to the Light, the longer you remain here, the harder it'll be for you to return; the more difficult it'll be for me to send you back. As for me, well, you could say that I'm less than worthy for it until I've done my good deed. Like I said before, I can only sense it, not see it. "

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa! That's the second time you've said that! What do you mean? Do you mean to say that you can send me back to my body?" Rodney asked feeling a flare of hope in him.

"Yes Rodney," Brendan replied, looking as if he was speaking to a six year old. "My good deed, remember? If I save your life, I would have done my good deed."

"And does that mean that you'll be able to save Sheppard too?" Rodney asked getting excited. Brendan looked towards Sheppard who was standing there, looking at Rodney with a confused and impatient look on his face. The pilot sighed and turned back to the Light taking a step closer towards it.

"Achk! Don't move Sheppard! Stay!" Rodney cried out, grabbing Sheppard's hand again and halting him. "Well?!" he turned back to Brendan seeking answers.

"Only if you get him the help that he needs, yes, I can send both of you back, it'll take a lot out of me, but it can be done. Time's running out, Rodney, the longer we remain here, the harder it'll be."

"Oh right, yes," Rodney said, realizing that they were under a ticking clock where both their lives hung on the balance. But he had to make sure that Sheppard would wait for him and not enter the Light while Rodney did what he needed to do.

"Sheppard?" he called his friend's name.

Rodney drew the Colonel's gaze back towards him. "Yeah, Rodney?" There was a confused look on the Sheppard's face. Rodney had never seen such longing in his friend before. Whatever he saw in the Light must be something indeed to draw the pilot towards it.

"Do you trust me, Sheppard?" he asked, capturing Sheppard's hazel gaze with his blue eyes. "What I mean to say is do you _really _trust me?"

A small frown formed between John's brows. Rodney knew that Sheppard really wanted to go towards the Light, he could sense it radiating throughout Sheppard's being. Sheppard paused as he considered the question seriously.

"Look, don't bother to answer that, I'm saving your ass here," Rodney said impatiently, "Just, if you trust me, and I know that I've asked this of you before and I'd let you down terribly, but I'm asking you again, _trust me_, Sheppard. _Please…. Just trust me_. This is your life and perhaps mine that we're talking about here. Just promise me that you will stay where you are for a few minutes longer… no matter how much that Light calls to you, please as … as a friend … can you promise me that? We never leave a man behind, remember? So, can you just stay where you are for a few minutes longer? Can you trust me enough to do that?"

He saw John give him an odd look. He obviously didn't understand what Rodney was going on about; the call of the Light was calling John's soul. But Sheppard finally sighed and pursed his lips. "Okay, Rodney, I promise."

Rodney felt raw relief and a lump form at the back of his throat. "Thank you, Sheppard. You'll not regret it," was all he managed to say.

John nodded and closed his eyes. Rodney knew then that he was trying to fight against the pull of the Light. He quickly turned back towards Brendan.

"So, tell me what do I have to do?"

oOo

"Clear!" Carson Beckett shouted as he placed the paddles on Rodney's chest. McKay's back arched off the bed as electricity surged him. Carson looked at the heart monitor, detecting a single weak beep.

"Oh my God… _Rodney!_" he heard Elizabeth Weir gasp out the name. He wondered why she sounded so shocked. Then he felt someone touch his arm. "Carson, _look!_"

Looking up, Carson gasped in shock to see a ghostly image of Rodney standing a few feet away from them. The first thing he thought was that somehow the alien cube device must have been reactivated. Rodney seemed to be shouting something at them but they couldn't hear any of his words. He turned to look at his left as if speaking to someone, but they saw no one there. Suddenly, the astrophysicist pointed to something behind them, at the same time everyone heard Rodney's ethereal form shout out the alarming words, "Help Sheppard! _He's dying!!!_ "

Carson turned around and stared in horror to see the form of John Sheppard lying motionless on the infirmary floor beside the wall. There was blood leaking out from the side of the pilot's unconscious mouth and his lips were turning blue.

Rodney's heart flat lined again and the ghostly form of Rodney vanished from the infirmary in a wink. "Bloody hell!" Carson cried out, placing the paddles back on Rodney's chest. He felt torn wanting to help both Sheppard and McKay at the same time, but knowing that he could only help one first. However, Jack left his side, moving like the wind, springing towards Sheppard's body. At that moment, Teyla and Ronon also arrived and the Satedan helped Jack to swiftly carry Sheppard to the other infirmary bed close by.

"No heart beat!" O'Neill muttered with a worried frown, his face dark with urgency as he shot Carson an urgent look before bending down to start emergency heart compressions. "Where's the rest of that damn medical team?!" Jack yelled out.

Carson turned his attention back to Rodney. Then he shouted out the words again, "Clear!" as he placed the paddles on McKay's chest. Carson prayed that the rest of his medical team would arrive soon because he refused to lose any close friend today!

oOo

When Rodney returned from communicating with others, he felt relieved to find Sheppard still standing before the Light where he had left him.

Brendan quickly approached them. "That was well done, Rodney, but we better do this now before it's too late for the both of you."

Rodney nodded. "Good bye, Brendan and thanks for everything."

Brenda gave him a smile and a nod, "No, I should be thanking you, Rodney. Without this opportunity to help you out, I might have remained a wandering ghost for a long time"

"Yeah well, next time, don't go blowing your head off," Rodney commented.

Brenda laughed. "Oh believe me, I learnt my lesson!"

"So…" Rodney asked, "will you be going to the Light after this?"

The deceased scientist nodded. "After my good deed, yes… I think I will. I will finally be at peace."

"Huh. Okay then," Rodney said, glad for his former associate. He turned to look at John. "So Sheppard, you ready to go?"

Sheppard looked puzzled and confused. "Go where, Rodney?" He appeared lost. Rodney could see that he longed to enter the Light.

Rodney gave him a reassuring smile. "You don't belong there yet, Sheppard," he informed him. "But I'm taking you home, back to where we actually belong."

He turned his gaze back at Brendan and looked back at his lifeless body. He could see the effort and pain in Carson Beckett's eyes as the man fought to save his life. He must remember not to tease the doctor so much about his voodoo science when he woke up.

"So, what do we do, now?" he asked Dr. Brendan Gall, feeling slightly nervous that this might not work.

"Nothing," Brendan smiled. "It's up to me now. Just make sure you grab hold of Sheppard when I sent you back, my connection is to you, not Sheppard. Otherwise he'll be lost to the Light!"

"Oh…" Rodney said and urgently grabbed hold of Sheppard's forearm in a tight grip.

"Ow!" Sheppard complained, but before he could say anything else, Rodney suddenly experienced a falling sensation before everything turned black….

oOo

The next thing Rodney was aware of was feeling excoriating pain in his left shoulder as he jerked upwards and gasped for breath.

"Easy Rodney!" he heard a Scottish brogue say enthusiastically. "That's it, Rodney, breathe! Just breathe easily now! You'll be all right…."

Nearby he heard the sound of a flat line. Oh God, Sheppard…! Was he too late? Did he somehow let go of Sheppard? Did he fail to save him? Was Brendan not able to send Sheppard through? Rodney thought frantically.

Nearby there was a familiar whine indicating a build up of electrical energy. Then he heard a woman's voice shout "Clear!" followed by the burst of a defibrillator close by. The sound of the flat line continued for a moment longer before it eventually changed to erratic beeping sounds.

"I've got a heart beat!" he heard a woman's voice cry out excitedly.

"Oh thank God…" Carson murmured softly above him, the relief in the physician's voice audible to all.

"Sheppard…?" he managed to croak out, feeling like crap and as weak as a new born kitten.

"How's the Colonel, Dr. Cole?" he heard Carson ask.

"He's not looking too good, Dr. Beckett. Internal injuries, a punctured lung, we'll need to get him prepped for surgery immediately but at least he's alive! I really thought that we lost him there … It's a miracle that we managed to get him back—"

Rodney saw Carson's face bend down close towards his. "The Colonel's going to be fine, Rodney, we got to him in time, thanks to you. I don't know how you did it Rodney, but we saw you appear to warn us about Sheppard's condition! After surgery, you'll be as good as new."

Rodney felt a warm hand pat his uninjured shoulder as an oxygen mask was placed over him. "Just don't scare us like that again, Rodney. No more dying on us. We'll take good care of ya and the Colonel too, so don't ye worry."

Rodney nodded. That was enough for now: he was back in Atlantis in his own body and among friends. Sheppard was alive and that, for the moment, was all that mattered. He was still thinking about it when he felt something cool prick into his veins and he sank back into the painless sleep of unconsciousness.

oOo

TBC

_AN: Boy was I so tempted to end this chapter with a cliffy but decided that you guys needed a break! lol. Anyway, what can I say, we can't have a ghost story without some supernatural element in it, right? Was it what you expected? When I started working on this story, I had already planned a scene of Rodney speaking to Brendan's ghost (as like the others, I felt that McKay needed closure with his ghost too), and making McKay flatline seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so as he gets to talk to Brendan and also prevent Sheppard from going into the Light! (Plus it should also make McKay whump fans happy!) LOL. However, acknowledgments should be given to liketheriver here, for although I had some scenes in this chapter already written and worked out in my head, her fic "Death and the Astrophysicist" was still an inspiration. So, what did you guys think? Okay, we're almost at the home stretch, with only a murder mystery to solve, which means only two or three chapters left before the end._


	21. The Three Bears

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Thank you sooo much to every one who reviewed. You guys are wonderful people and I always do a happy dance when I hear from ya:) _

**21: The Three Bears**

Sheppard dreamt that he was being chased by a growling hungry bear. His heart pounded, his lungs burned and his legs felt like they were on fire as he ran through the woods trying to escape it. The growls followed him closely like a shadow that he could not shake. Finally, he found a solitary tree and in an attempt to escape the fierce bear, he climbed up the tree, but as soon as he stepped on a branch it snapped, making him lose his balance and fall…

He jerked awake with a cry on his lips, his eyes snapping open, only to realize that he had been dreaming and that there was no giant bear chasing him and that he wasn't about to fall to his death. However, for some odd reason the growling rumbling sounds continued to follow him even upon awakening.

It took him a second or two to realize that there was a large hand on his uninjured shoulder easing his head gently back down on the pillows again. He also became aware that there was a nasal cannula attached uncomfortably up his nose and that there were numerous tubes poking out from various parts of his body, one of which he would rather not think about. His mind felt fuzzy, his reactions sluggish and there were thick bandages wrapped around his chest. He felt confused and disorientated, recognizing it as the side effects of Carson's happy drugs being pumped into him. Things must have certainly taken a turn for the worse for him to be in such a state, and he wondered what had happened.

"Easy John, you're in the infirmary," he heard Ronon's deep voice say. _Yeah, that much was pretty obvious_, John thought to himself. However, the growling sounds continued to resonance somewhere off to his left. Turning his head, he saw Teyla opening the privacy curtains on the other side next to his bed, revealing McKay fast asleep: his left shoulder thickly bandaged and his bandaged nose also attached with a nasal cannula. The scientist was currently snoring his head off, which attributed to the bear sounds in John's dreams. Sheppard looked at McKay, amused by the loud snoring next door.

"How is the Colonel?" he heard Teyla ask Ronon, while she looked at him in concern.

"Awake," Ronon replied with amused smile. "I think Rodney's snoring woke him."

Teyla smiled at Sheppard, as she approached the side of his bed. "It is good to finally see you up John, we were wondering who would awaken first."

"How's Rodney?" he asked worriedly, feeling surprised by the unfamiliar sound of his own voice. It sounded raspy and weak. His memory of what had happened finally returned; he remembered seeing Rodney being shot by the phantom Sumner. He recalled making his way to Rodney's side and finding no heartbeat. But as the scientist was next door to him snoring loudly, Carson must have been able to bring the scientist back. He wondered how badly Rodney had been injured. _My fault_, he thought to himself, _Rodney wouldn't have been injured if I had been able to stop Sumner's ghost sooner._

The nasal cannula was making his throat extremely dry and he felt a raging thirst. Teyla seemed to know what he wanted as she brought a plastic cup with ice chips and slipped a small piece into his mouth. For a moment, it felt like heaven and Sheppard just savored the moment.

"Dr. Beckett tells us that Rodney is going to be fine, as are you," Teyla informed him gently.

"I don't remember his snoring sounding this bad," Sheppard observed as a particularly loud snore tortured their ear drums.

"You think that's bad, Sheppard? You should have heard yourself a moment ago," Ronon chipped in.

"I snore?" Sheppard asked, feeling surprised by this piece of news. He didn't think that he did.

"Yes, very badly, sir. Found it almost impossible to sleep last night." A new voice spoke from Sheppard's right. Turning his head, he saw Major Lorne sitting up on the infirmary bed next to his with an opened magazine on his lap. There was still a bandage around Lorne's head, but he certainly looked better than when he last saw him.

"Lorne? Nice to finally see you awake," Sheppard greeted the Major with a smile. "How are you doing, Major?"

"Great to be awake, sir. And I'm feeling better, sir. But if I may speak freely, sir, you guys really need to do something about that snoring. I hardly slept a wink last night with all the racket that you were making."

"I slept fine," Ronon commented. Sheppard turned his gaze to the Satedan, his eyes taking in the large pillow leaning on the plastic guest chair nearby.

"You slept here? How long have you been here?" John asked.

"Three nights, your team's been hanging out here for three loooong nights, sir." It was Lorne who replied before Ronon could. "By the way, you snore as well, Ronon. I asked Carson for some earplugs but it didn't help."

John shot Ronon a surprised look, before turning his gaze to Teyla. "And you've been here too?" he asked. "Hold on a minute, how long have I been out ?"

"We thought you won't want to be alone after what happened, John." Teyla replied offering up an explanation. "And you and Rodney have been unconscious for three days now."

"I said I would watch your back and I wasn't there when it mattered," Ronon added. "So this time, we figured that we'll stand watch to ensure that you and McKay are safe." It was one of the longest sentence that Sheppard heard the former Runner say and he felt touched by it. "Besides, there's still a killer running around loose in Atlantis, and we weren't about to take anymore chances with your lives."

"How's the investigation going?" Sheppard asked curiously, recalling Lt. Marker's murder.

Ronon shrugged. "Don't know. O'Neill's looking into it."

"Well, I don't know how you managed to sleep through the snores, Teyla, but I hardly got any shut eye," Lorne still complained, giving out a big yawn. "You guys sound like three growling bears. Goldilocks and the three bears, who would have figured…"

"I meditate," Teyla replied as if that answered Lorne's question.

"Well, maybe you could show me that technique sometime," Lorne stated.

"Yeah, if you want to learn how to fall asleep while sitting up, go for it." Ronon added, before moving away quickly from Teyla as the Athosian gave him an evil eye and jabbed him hard on the upper arm. The Satedan just smirked back a response.

"I shall be honored to show you the ways of meditation, Major Lorne," Teyla replied with a slight bow of her head. "It will help you to relax and also fall asleep."

She then turned back towards John (who was trying to hide his amusement at Teyla and Ronon's antics) and offered him an explanation of his sudden snoring-like-a-bear problem.

"I believe it's the result of your broken nose, Colonel. Like Rodney's, Dr. Beckett also had to straightened yours back again, I believe he told us that you would look 'your handsome ol' self again in no time'. But the injury seems to have interfered with your sleep patterns, making the both of you snore louder than normal."

"I'll say…," Sheppard noted, not impressed by this new development. He lifted his left hand and felt the thick bandage around his nose. _Like Rodney, I must look like a clown_, he thought to himself. "So, what happened?"

"Rodney saved your life," Ronon declared.

"He did?" Sheppard looked at him surprised. "Funny, cos the last I remember, I was trying to save his."

Before anyone else could reply to that, Dr. Carson Beckett arrived, hobbling on his crutches.

"Aye, and whatever crazy thing that you did, Colonel, you were almost killed in the process," the Scottish doctor informed him in a disapproving tone. "You heart had stopped beating and we had to attempt to revive you several times. laddie. I hope ya'll not gonna to make a habit of it, Colonel Sheppard."

"Nope. I promise I'll be good the next time," John quipped, not remembering any of it.

"Well, it's good to finally see you awake, lad. You've been asleep for almost three days now."

"So I've heard," Sheppard replied, still finding it quite hard to believe that he had lost three days.

Carson took out his physician's penlight from his pocket and began shining it into Sheppard's eyes. "How are you feeling, Colonel?"

"Fine… " Sheppard replied before an invasive bright light hit his retinas making him wince painfully. "Geez, Doc! Do you always have to _do _that?" he protested weakly, trying to move his head to escape the awful glare of the dreaded physician's penlight. However, the light brought to mind of another light: a memory of a light that wasn't invasive at all but something else, something more…

"Ah, I see that we have a cranky Colonel today," Carson observed with an understanding smile. "Not feeling too good this afternoon are we, lad?"

"Actually, sorry to be the bearer of bad news doc, but Sheppard only turned cranky after you showed up." Lorne cut in with a smile.

"Oh, feeling a little cheeky now, are we, Major Lorne?" Carson turned to look at Lorne. "May I remind you Major that I'm in charge of the big needles here?"

"O-kay…. Shutting up now," Lorne quickly picked up the magazine on his lap and pretended to read it.

Beckett smiled, feeling pleased with himself as he turned back to study Sheppard's reflexes with his penlight.

"Can you _stop _shining that light in my eyes, doc? My brain hasn't woken up yet!" Sheppard complained with a grimace. Waking up in the infirmary was never his best moment. He always felt too out of control in Carson's infirmary, which was never a good thing in his book.

"Well, you reflexes certainly seem to be working well, Colonel, I think you're doing very well considering the trauma that your body's been through," Carson informed him.

"Oh yeah, about that, doc. What exactly happened?" Sheppard asked. "And how was Rodney involved in saving my life? And by the way, when is Rodney going to wake up? Shouldn't all the noise we're making be waking him up by now?"

Carson turned to give McKay a quick glance before turning his attention back to Sheppard. "Don't ya worry, lad. Rodney will wake up in his own time. His body is just catching up in a lot of sleep right now."

oOo

Jack O'Neill came to Dr. Zelenka's lab, popping his head around the corner of the lab door.

"Hey, Doc Zunka, you got a moment?" he asked.

Radek looked up at Jack, annoyance marring his normally placid features. "Excuse me?" he said as he took a blank piece of paper and began scribbling on it.

Jack strolled in with his hands in his pockets before stopping in front of Radek, standing on the balls of his feet. "McKay said that I should come see you if I needed help with anything. Well, I've just received a data transmission from a good buddy of mine from Earth and I was wondering whether you could help me with the investigation of Lt. Marker's killer."

"He did?" Radek said; looking up surprised and sounding pleased at the same time.

"Yeah, I guess he must trust you," Jack replied as he picked up a small device on the table and began fiddling with it. "So… will you be able to help me, doc?"

Radek looked a little nervous as he eyed O'Neill fiddling with the Ancient device that they hadn't had a chance to analyze and catalog yet. "Er, General O'Neill, you may want to put that down. We don't want another accidental activation of alien devices that we are unsure about."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Guess I still haven't learnt my lesson," Jack commented wryly. _Don't pick up alien devices that you know nothing about, Jack!_ He silently chided himself.

Radek nodded and breathed a small sigh of relief when nothing alarming happened as O'Neill placed the item carefully back onto the table again.

"So, Dr. Zunka, will you be able to help me?"

Another frown marred the Czech scientist's brows. He finished scribbling on the piece of paper and waved it up in front of O'Neill's face. Jack leaned forward and squinted at the words. "Zelenka?" he read out the name in puzzlement.

"Yes," Radek replied a little frostily. "That's my name," the Czech scientist informed him.

"Really?" Jack lifted both eyebrows, feeling surprised. "You're called Zelenka?"

"Yes, since I was born, it has always been my family's name," Radek replied sarcastically. "Unless I'm adopted, which could be a possibility seeing that I'm only one in my family interested in science. My father wanted me to join family's business, not become scientist. Who said I was called Zunka, may I ask?"

"Actually, I called you Zunka, but McKay didn't refute me when I asked him about it." Jack casually replied.

"I get him back," Radek muttered softly under his breath obviously annoyed as he began mumbling something in Czech. After a few seconds, he looked up above the rim of his glasses and said, "So, how may I help you?"

"McKay told me that you're pretty good with the computers. So, any chance you could help me do a background check on the marine that was killed?"

Zelenka nodded as he approached O'Neill. "Actually I've also been doing a bit of investigation of my own," Radek informed him. He wasn't McKay's trusted assistant for nothing and he had learnt a lot from observing how Rodney solved the mystery concerning the purpose of the alien cube device. He gestured for O'Neill to approach the computer screen he had on. "You may want to take a look at this. I called up security logs to Lt. Marker's quarters. According to Dr. Biro's autopsy report, Lt. Marker was murdered a few hours before the attack."

"We already know this and when we looked up the security video logs outside Marker's quarters, they had been erased. Someone, probably the killer, had gone through and erased the logs." O'Neill commented.

"Yes, but even if the computer video logs have been deleted, there are always ways to retrieve them given enough time and effort. This, I have been working on and I think you'll find it very interesting, General." Radek noted with a smile.

"Oh? Really?" Jack said, his interest peaked, liking what he heard.

"Yes. I could not enhance or clear it up entirely, but I think it's enough for our purpose," Radek replied as he clicked on the computer keyboard opening the video file for O'Neill to view.

oOo

John Sheppard sat up on his infirmary bed contemplating all that he had been told that had happened. He didn't understand half of what he heard but he did know that he owed McKay for saving his life. He wondered how many times they had done that; somehow he had lost count. But it looked like this time, it was his turn to say thanks.

Rodney was still sleeping and Carson had informed him that the scientist hadn't had much sleep for several days row and it looked like his body was making up for it so there was really nothing to worry about. According to Beckett, Rodney McKay would wake up on his own time when it suited him.

With John now awake and his wounds healing nicely, he had managed to convince Carson to remove the cannula nasal and also the catheter, much to his relief. Turning to his head, he studied his sleeping friend, noting the bandaged ears and nose. As he did so, an idea formed that made Sheppard smile.

"Hey Beckett!" he called out to the Scottish doctor, who was standing nearby reading some medical equipment.

"Aye, Colonel, is there something that you need?" the physician queried.

"Yes," John replied. "Do you know if the Halloween party is still going to be on for next week?"

"Aye, as far as I know, we're still going to go ahead with it." Carson replied.

"That's good doc. Do you think we'll be well enough to attend it?" Sheppard asked hopefully.

Carson frowned slightly. "Well, both of you seemed to be doing remarkably well, if you keep it up, I don't see why not, provided that you don't do anything strenuous and take things easy. That includes you too, Major Lorne."

"Great!" Lorne said, sounding pleased. "I've already ordered my Halloween outfit, wouldn't want it to go to waste!"

Sheppard grinned. "Then I have a favor to ask you, doc."

oOo

"Well, what do you know—" Jack mused as he leaned back against his chair, frowning slightly as he observed the man leaving Lt. Marker's quarters and the time recorded on the snowy video log.

"And nobody entered Marker's quarters after this?"

"No." Radek confirmed.

"I wonder what was his motive?" Jack wondered aloud.

Radek shrugged. "I think perhaps we should speak to the Lieutenant who was with him?"

"Have you had a chance to question him yet?" O'Neill asked.

"Not yet, General, I felt that you might want to do so yourself," Radek replied.

"You betcha," Jack agreed, "Come on, Zelenka, if what I suspect is true then I think we might be solving two murders here."

Radek nodded as he switched off the computer and followed O'Neill out the door.

oOo

TBC


	22. Murder She Wrote

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_Spoiler alert: McKay and Mrs. Miller_

_AN: Thank you all who reviewed the last chapter. You guys are awesome! Well, we're almost at the end. For all of you who are dying to know who the murderer is, this chapter solves the mystery and also provides the motive. Hopefully you guys are surprised, as in every murder mystery it's got to be a surprise:D So, how I'm doing?_

**22: Murder She Wrote**

Lieutenant Holden was waiting for them when Radek and Jack knocked on his quarters' door.

"General?" he inquired quietly standing at attention when O'Neill entered, followed closely by Zelenka.

"At ease soldier," Jack said as he entered the Lieutenant's noticing the neatness of the room.

The young Lieutenant relaxed slightly. "What can I do for you, sir?" he asked a little nervously.

"Actually, we're here to ask you some questions regarding what you saw when Corporal Clysean was killed." O'Neill replied.

oOo

Dr. Rodney McKay awoke with a start when something small struck him at the side of his face. He waved a hand, trying to swipe it away only to feel another tiny something go pop and bounce away but this time on his lower right lip.

"Oh, that was a good one sir! You almost got it into his mouth that time! Hey, did you see him move his hand? And I think his eyes are twitching! I think he's finally waking up, sir!" the voice that spoke with such excitement sounded like Major Lorne.

"That's the general idea…, Major. Sometimes, what Rodney needs is a wake up call. He's been sleeping for _far _too long; it's about time he did something else other than count sheep!" Another familiar voice explained in a lazy drawl.

Annoyed, Rodney finally cracked open an eyelid and slammed his drooling mouth shut when he realized that it was ajar and available for target practice by a pea-shooting Colonel. But before he could say a word, he heard Carson's voice rising in ire, berating one mischievous, dark haired pilot.

"_Colonel Sheppard! _If I catch ya throwing another pea at Rodney again, I'm gonna have the nurses restrain you and have ya spoon fed like a wee baby!"

"Aw, come on, Doc!" came the recognizable whine that could only belong to one Lt. Colonel John Sheppard.

"I was getting bored and these green peas were too soft and cold anyway, so they should be good for something else, right? I figured that it was time that Sleeping Beauty over there woke up. And Rodney's been sleeping for what? _Five _days now? Is that even considered _normal_? How long more does he need to sleep anyway? Three days should be more than sufficient! After all, I woke up after three days!"

"I say he's lazy." The deep voice that rumbled sounded suspiciously like Ronon.

"I think you're right Ronon. Lazy and greedy, that's our Rodney. I think he's also getting a pot belly for sleeping too long and being fed intravenously, don't you think so, Ronon?" Sheppard voiced his thoughts.

"John! Ronon! That is _not _a nice thing to say!" Teyla's scolding voice intruded into their conversation. "You know how hard Rodney worked in order to solve the problem with the alien cube device. You should not insult him so."

However, John's earlier comment really got to Rodney's nerves and he cracked open his other eyelid to glare indignantly at his friends, "I'm NOT lazy! I _eat _to maintain my blood sugar level _and_ I DON'T have a pot-belly!"

"_Hah!_ Knew that would wake you up!" Sheppard smirked in a sing-song way.

"So, how are ya feeling, Rodney?" Carson asked, smiling, moving towards Rodney before shooting Sheppard, Ronon and Lorne a disapproving look. "Don't mind them, laddie. Those shenanigans are just winding you up."

"Winding you up?" Teyla echoed the words in puzzlement.

"It means that we like teasing Rodney so that we can get a reaction out of him," Sheppard explained. He turned back to look at the astrophysicist. "Erase all that I said, _Meredith_, I didn't mean them, except for the pot-belly remark. That might come true especially if you don't watch what you eat..., Porky!"

"Hah hah, very funny, pick on the dying man, why don't you? Porcupine head!" Rodney retorted hotly, not at all amused.

Sheppard arched an eyebrow as if to say _"See?"_ to Teyla before turning his attention back to Rodney. Teyla tried to suppress a smile, but Rodney still caught the quiver of an upturned lip.

"Ouch! _Porcupine head_ are we?" Sheppard raised his eyebrows, a roguish grin appearing on his face, as he leaned forward slightly. "Well, look who's talking… _Baldy_."

Rodney spluttered, all sleep fleeing from his eyes. "I'll have you know that it's only a _slight _receding hairline! You... Airhead!" When he first met the Colonel in Antarctica, who would have expected Sheppard to enjoy trading insults so much?

"Hey, what's with the _head_ thing, Rodney?" Sheppard asked in an exaggerated hurt tone, making a face as he tried to look up at his own unruly hair.

"Fuzzball!" John shot back.

"_Fuzzball?!_ Did you just call me fuzzball?!" Rodney took a deep breath ready for another retort but a puzzled frown suddenly formed in between his brows as he recalled where he had heard that name before. "Hang on! Wait a second! Didn't Han Solo call Chewbacca that?"

Sheppard grinned. There was an indefinable look in his hazel eyes. "Yeah, Rodney. It means—"

"What? _A hairy stinky fur ball?_"

"Oh sure, that too," John replied with an amused chuckle. "Actually, Rodney, it means with our habit of saving each other's lives, it's my turn to say thanks."

"Oh…" Rodney was stunned, completely taken off-guard at the sudden change of topic. Inside, he felt a sensation of unexpected warm fuzziness, quite similar to how he felt when he had hugged his sister Jeanie after he gave her the clay figurine that he had stolen off Weir's desk to give to Madison. He realized suddenly what Sheppard was trying to say: Han Solo _trusted _Chewbacca as his right-hand man – correction - Wookie. He allowed Chewie to pilot the _Millennium Falcon_ and to cover his back. The two of them had saved each other lives on numerous occasions, in addition to trading insults. It was a compliment that only Sheppard could think of, yet, Rodney wished that he wasn't referred to as an overgrown fur ball whose speech comprised only of grunts and growls. After all, he was a genius here! Nevertheless, he knew what Sheppard meant. Although he and Sheppard might not necessary share the same interests, they certainly trusted one another with their lives, which meant something.

He couldn't believe it, even in his thoughts, he was babbling. Feeling emotional, Rodney swallowed hard. The dry spittle tickled the back of his throat, making him cough instead. It was at that moment when he realized how parched and thirsty he was.

"Okay, now that you children had your fun, have a wee drink, Rodney, it'll help with your thirst," Carson interjected kindly, handing McKay a plastic cup half filled with water and a straw in it. "And in answer to your earlier question, no, you're not dying, Rodney. In fact you'll be just fine."

Knowing that his face would now be a shade of red from coughing, Rodney nodded his thanks to Carson, suddenly realizing that Beckett was another of his close friends whom he could count on. In fact, so too were Teyla and Ronon. Using the straw, he drank the water, feeling the cool liquid quench his thirst, bringing blessed relief to his extremely dry throat.

Feeling more awake now, Rodney turned to watch Sheppard, noting his bandaged nose and ears that were uncannily similar to his own facial bandages.

"What happened to you?" he asked curiously, not recalling when had Sheppard hurt his ears.

"Oh these?" Sheppard replied as he waved his thick hand cast covering his broken wrist close to his face. "What can I say? They're courtesy of Sumner's ghost."

"Huh, and you were laughing at me before when I broke my nose. Welcome to the club!" Rodney gloated, feeling pleased that he wasn't the only one to look silly. He looked down at his shoulder wound, noticing the bandage and sensing the dull ache there.

"So, how are you feeling, Rodney?" Carson asked, steering the conversation back to his patient. He gave Rodney with his famous doctor's smile, revealing a dimple at the side of one cheek.

Rodney thought about it for a second before replying honestly. "Actually, strange as it may sound, I feel remarkably well rested, Carson."

"Well, you should be, considering you've sleeping for five days now," Sheppard grumbled.

"What?!" Rodney gasped aloud, looking up shocked at the news and feeling slightly alarmed. He heard that before when he first woke up, but it took him only now to register the meaning of it. "Is that normal, doc?" he asked Carson, anxious blue eyes gazing at the Scottish doctor. "Is there something wrong with me? Do I have a terminal disease or something that I don't know about? Oh, _crap!_" he uttered loudly as he suddenly realized something else, something mighty uncomfortable down there. "Do I have a _catheter _on me?!"

Carson laughed, folding his arms together as he studied his patient. "Aye lad, now that you're awake, I can remove it. Like I said before, you're gonna be fine, Rodney. You suffered an injury to your shoulder but it's healing nicely. The reason why you've slept for so long is because your body needed the rest; you've been overworking it as usual." Carson gave him a pat on the forearm.

"Hmm, are you sure that's all? There's nothing that you're hiding from me? I'm a big boy, you know, I can take the news." Rodney stated anxiously.

"Oh sure, and this coming from a _hypochondriac_," Sheppard muttered softly, his tone thick with sarcasm as he leaned over and nicked a magazine from Lorne's bed. The Major glared at him but Sheppard brazenly ignored him.

"I am not a hypochondriac!" Rodney protested loudly.

"Are too—" John drawled, not looking at Rodney while he continued to flip through the pages of the magazine.

"Am not!"

"Now now, behave lads, or do I have to separate the two of ya and move ye to the opposite ends of the infirmary?" Carson threatened. "As I was saying Rodney, you're fine. There's nothing wrong with you, other than the puncture hole in your shoulder…"

Of course, it was a mistake for Carson to mention about the puncture hole in Rodney's shoulder….

oOo

A little later that day, Elizabeth, Jack and Radek strode into the infirmary with wide smiles on their faces. Elizabeth and Radek carried a tablet PC in their hands, while Jack carried some printed documents.

Ronon and Teyla, who had left the infirmary half an hour ago to get something to eat, also arrived back with with knowing looks on their faces. It didn't take a genius to figure out that something was up. The Satedan moved the table that they had earlier set up in the makeshift conference room to where Sheppard, McKay and Lorne's beds now were. Teyla meanwhile gathered up all the chairs and placed them around the table, while Jack pushed Lorne's infirmary bed closer to John's.

"Carson informed us that you were awake, Rodney. It's good to see you up." Elizabeth said cheerfully. "John, Evan, how are you two doing today?"

"Fine," John replied for himself and Lorne, while greeting them with his famous Sheppard smile. "Nice to see you too, Elizabeth, General O'Neill, Radek. So, having another conference are we?" At the same time, he nodded to Teyla and Ronon.

"Yes John, Carson informed us that you gentlemen are well enough for visitors so we decided to have an impromptu meeting," Elizabeth informed him. Her eyes lingered on him for a moment longer, as if scrutinizing him to make sure that he was actually 'fine'. Then her gaze moved on to the others; there was a sparkle of excitement in her green eyes.

"I'll be along in a minute!" They heard Carson's voice shout a little way off.

"Okay, doc, we'll wait for ya!" O'Neill hollered back.

"So, what's this about, Dr. Weir?" Major Lorne asked curiously.

Elizabeth looked at Jack and both their smiles widened. Something was definitely up. "Well, we thought that you guys would want to know who killed Lt. Marker."

oOo

"I don't believe it!" Lorne shook his head in disbelief.

"Huh, well it just goes to show that it was good for something after all," Rodney commented.

"Yep, and if it weren't for the device, he would have gotten away with murder," Jack added.

"Just a pity that Lt. Marker had to be his latest victim though," Weir reminded them a little somberly.

"And no telling who he might have killed the next time someone found out about his past," commented Teyla with a look of distaste flitting across on her serene features.

"Once a killer, always a killer," Ronon noted darkly.

"I suppose that's something you might call ironic justice," Sheppard suggested dryly.

"Let's see. A device used by the Ancients in a Penal Colony to punish their criminals by projecting the ghosts of murdered victims to said murderers, thereby forcing them to kill themselves. And it _actually _does its job in Atlantis, where the only person killed by such a device is actually a murderer unknown in our midst. Hmm…" Rodney agreed with a sarcastic smile. "It is quite ironic indeed, but I think I like it."

Elizabeth Weir nodded in agreement. "Yes. But I agree with Jack. If it weren't for the alien device, Corporal Clysean would have indeed got away with the perfect murder."

"Aye, and nobody would have been the wiser, after all, the murder was unresolved for several years," Carson added, looking at the police documents that O'Neill had printed out for them. They had arrived a day ago as a data stream from SCG at Jack's request after Lt. Holden managed to give a positive ID composite of the ghost girl that he had witnessed in Corporal Clysean's quarters.

"I got in touch with some contacts from Earth," O'Neill explained, "The authorities ran through her likeness comparing it with all the missing persons and unsolved murders in the Police computer data. One matched up. It occurred in San Francisco five years ago; an unresolved murder of a young woman in her early twenties. The last time she was seen alive was with someone matching Clysean's description."

"Aye," Carson continued the explanation. "So I sent through some samples of the Corporal's DNA back to Earth. The CSI unit that was looking into the lass's murder analyzed it and it turned out to be a perfect match to the DNA sample left behind on the murdered victim's body."

"Killed by his own ghost, that's got to be one for the record books," Sheppard quipped.

"Hmm, courtesy of Ancient technology in the Pegasus galaxy of course," McKay added.

"But why take out Marker?" Lorne wondered curiously.

"According to earlier reports, Lt. Marker was with Clysean when he first encountered phantom attack," Radek informed them. He took a deep breath before he continued with his hypothesis. "Marker must have witnessed or heard something from phantom girl or perhaps Clysean inadvertently confessed something incriminating while under ghostly alien influence."

Jack nodded in agreement. "Yes, from what I remembered of Corporal Clysean, he seemed a little like a loose-canon even for a jarhead. Marker must have suspected something, or maybe he was just curious, but whatever the case, there were personal logs stored in his computer showing evidence that Marker did some background checks of his own concerning the dead girl. But being a computer geek, he had hidden his personal logs well under some tight encryption codes that was difficult to find, which was why Clysean didn't find it after he had killed Marker."

"Yes," Radek agreed. "Marker was very good. It took me quite a while to even note that there was a shadow file hidden under all that encryption and a day to figure out how to crack the code."

Jack smiled. "Yes, our friend Zelenka is quite good with computers too. Here, take a look at these." O'Neill distributed documents showing written descriptions of the girl that Marker had made concerning the ghost he had witnessed appearing to Corporal Clysean. There was a file note at one end of the document noting to check with the authorities concerning missing persons or unresolved crimes.

"Yes, but there is more." Radek took over with the explanation, and unlike Rodney, Jack graciously allowed the Czech scientist to have his say. "In Lt. Marker's personal logs, he also mentioned arranging a meeting with Corporeal Clysean to confront him about his 'past crimes'. It looked like either Marker was trying to solve the mystery on his own or he might have wanted to blackmail Corporeal Clysean. Whatever the case, it was a stupid move on his part."

"Which unfortunately cost him his life," Elizabeth observed soberly.

"Humph, a rookie mistake," Rodney noted with disgust. "Obviously this Marker fella was no Sherlock. First rule of thumb: Never confront a suspected murderer alone or without backup. Was he nuts?"

"Now, now, Rodney. Although I have to admit that it was a daft move, it's disrespectful to insult the dead." Carson shook his head at the loss of a young life.

"Anyway, from what we've been able to deduce, after Clysean shot Marker, he tried to cover up his tracks by deleting the video logs outside Marker's quarters," Jack continued. "He knew that there was going to be a possibility of another phantom attack, so perhaps he hoped that we would think that Marker was a victim of such an attack."

"Except that he didn't know that Marker didn't have the ATA gene." Elizabeth added.

"Humph, who would have guessed? For all the trouble that it caused, that alien cube device certainly did its job well," McKay observed. "It caught us a murderer, whom I might add, we didn't know was a murderer, and effectively killed him off by using his own guilt against him for the murder that he committed."

"A little crude, McKay, but true," Sheppard agreed with a lazy drawl. "So I guess there's a silver lining at the end of this after all. Which reminds me…, I've been meaning to ask you guys, is everyone going for the Halloween party that we're having next week?"

At the change of topic, O'Neill lifted his head, looking up surprised. "What Halloween party?"

Elizabeth turned towards Jack, giving him an apologetic smile, "With everything that's been happening lately, I forgot to mention it, General. Atlantis will be having a Halloween party in a few days; you of course are invited to join us. This year, we have some enthusiastic personnel who have set up a shop of sorts renting out Halloween costumes. I'll pass on the names of who to contact, if you're interested. You might be able to find an appropriate costume that you like there, Jack, that is, if they still have any costumes left."

Jack lifted an eyebrow. "Well that sounds like fun, but I'll have to decline. I promised SG-1 that I'll make it back to SGC to celebrate Halloween with them."

"Oh? So what will you be going as, sir?" Sheppard asked curiously.

"Well, I'm tossing between Homer Simpson or MacGyver," O'Neill quipped. "I even have the wigs for both ordered; one, a yellow bald wig, and the other, a long shaggy haired blondish-brown wig."

Elizabeth laughed, "Two different extremes; one, a maverick, gun-shy, overgrown boy-scout genius, and the other, a dumb beer drinking cartoon lug."

"I say go with MacGyver!" McKay suggested. "It's always best to choose brains over dumb ass! You can never go wrong with MacGyver! Making bombs out of everyday products, duck-tape and paper clips, now that's what I call a genius!"

"Oh you _would _say that wouldn't you, Rodney?" Sheppard replied, making a face at McKay before turning back to Jack with a smile. "No sir, I think you'll have more fun with Homer. You could go round the party saying '_Doh!_' and if you got drunk - everyone would think that you're just acting out your role as Homer!"

Jack laughed. "Two very good suggestions, gentlemen. I'll take them under consideration. So I take it that with all the ghostly encounters we've been having lately, you guys still want to go dressing up as ghouls and scary monsters?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Our people have been looking forward to it, General. It's the first time we're having a Halloween party since we came to Atlantis. I don't think this little encounter with personal demons will cause our people to want to cancel the party. In fact, I think it'll actually boost morale. God knows, everyone deserves to relax and unwind and have a little fun around here."

"Besides," John added, "this will be first time for Teyla and Ronon to experience a Halloween party. Figured we should introduce our two residential aliens to some of Earth's more interesting culture."

Ronon frowned at these words. "This dress-up ritual for a Halloween party still sounds strange to me."

"Well, we don't actually dress up to scare people, Ronon." There was a moment's pause, before Sheppard corrected his words. "Well, maybe _some _of us do. But it's mainly for the food and the company and seeing what your friends are going to come dressed as. It's called entertainment, Ronon."

"Oh God!" Rodney suddenly cried out in a loud distressed voice.

"What is it, Rodney?" Teyla asked in concern.

"I was intending to go as Albert Einstein, but with my broken nose all bandaged up, it's going to ruin my look!" the astrophysicist complained.

At that statement, Sheppard grinned, sharing a look with Carson Beckett. "Don't worry, Rodney. I got that covered. I've made arrangements for both of our Halloween costumes!"

"Oh?" Rodney looked at John surprised before his gaze turned skeptical. "What are they? Please tell me that my Halloween costume is going to be of someone tremendously smart, or something tremendously scary!"

Sheppard's grin grew wider. "Oh don't you worry, Rodney. It's something very scary indeed. Just trust me."

Nearby Carson gave a soft chuckle.

oOo

TBC

_AN: Up next we say farewell to O'Neill and a Halloween party:)  
_


	23. Halloween & Farewells

**The Ghosts of Atlantis**

_AN: Well, we've reached the final chapter! When I first started this story, I honestly thought that it would end in ten chapters and completed before Halloween! LOL!_

_Thank you all the readers out there who have journeyed with me on this tale and stuck with it. Special thanks also go to all those who were kind enough to drop a review, encouraging me to continue with this tale. You guys rock! As always, feedback is appreciated._

**23: Halloween & Farewells**

Dr. Carson Beckett was dreaming. He dreamt that he was back at planet Hoff and Perna was there waiting for him. When she saw him, she gave him a lovely smile and greeted him with a soft kiss on the cheek.

"You did the right thing, Carson. I'm at peace now. I never blamed you for what happened. I don't want you to ever blame yourself or think that I do — I just wanted you to know that. Take care of yourself, Carson. One day, we shall meet again and I shall be waiting for you. For now, I shall always remember you in my heart."

With those words she vanished, and Beckett woke up with her voice echoing in his head and the fading smell of her perfume in the air. He felt a sensation of peace settle in his heart. His blue eyes fluttered open for a moment, then he turned around, closed his eyes and went back to sleep with a peaceful smile on his gentle features.

oOo

**One week later**

"Well, I would have liked to say that it's been fun," Jack quipped as he got ready to return to SGC through the Stargate.

"I'm sorry that your visit couldn't have been under more pleasant circumstances, General," Weir said as she shook O'Neill's hand.

"Is it always like this in Atlantis?" Jack asked, looking at Weir, Sheppard and McKay, his send-off party.

O'Neill was returning to back Earth; Atlantis would be having their Halloween party that evening. John and Rodney had been recently discharged from Carson's infirmary after Carson had deemed them fit enough to spend the rest of their convalescence in their quarters under the promise that they would take things easy.

"Well, not always... Just, sometimes, sir. You unfortunately happened to arrive on that odd occasion, General," Sheppard replied with a wry smile.

"Are you _kidding_, Colonel?!" McKay cut in with an exaggerated voice. His hands folded together as he turned to glare cuttingly at Sheppard. "Not _sometimes_, Colonel, but in my estimate, it's _most _of the time! Can you recall a single week that's gone by since we've arrived here where we've not had some sort of emergency happening in Atlantis? If it's not Wraith wanting to eat us, it's some other crisis occurring in our off-world missions! If I didn't know better, I'll say that the fates are against us!"

Jack gave a laugh. "Well, looks like things are not so different out here in the Pegasus galaxy after all."

Weir lifted an eyebrow at O'Neill's ambiguous statement. "Oh? Care to elaborate what you mean, General?"

The smile on O'Neill face widened. "I meant from SGC or more accurately from my own experiences with SG-1. Each week, when I was at SG-1, we always had to save the universe or something. Looks like you guys are having the fun now!" Jack observed with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

McKay snorted and huffed. "Fun, General? Excuse me?! Did you just use the word _fun?_ Cos, almost getting killed by an alien device that sends out murderous phantoms to try to kill us does not qualify as _fun _in my book!"

Jack O'Neill lifted his brows. "Oh? Well, it beats sitting behind the desk and having to deal with negotiations and making decisions on others lives that's not your own. Ah ... no disrespect to your job, Dr. Weir, but pushing paper can be boring as hell and yet able to give you gray hairs to last a lifetime; not that I need anymore of those, notice all the gray hair on my head?"

Elizabeth tried to suppress a laugh. "None taken, General O'Neill. I understand fully what you mean. You sound as if you miss the action."

Jack lifted his eyebrows higher in an exaggerated look. "Who me? Missed being poked full with holes by alien devices and evil bad guys? Noooo," he turned towards Sheppard and looked at the pilot. "From what I've seen and the reports I've read, you seem to be the lucky candidate for that, Sheppard. Almost changed into a bug, Colonel? That's one for the record books."

John grimaced. "Please, don't remind me, sir. It's one reason why I hate bugs so much."

Rodney sniggered. "Yep, Sheppard's forever getting himself poked full of holes or attacked by alien bugs and landing himself in the infirmary."

"_Hey!_" John's protested. "Look who's talking! If I recall, you were with me in the infirmary just about yesterday, Rodney!" Sheppard shot back.

"Hey hey hey! That wasn't counted. That phantom bullet was actually meant for you!" Rodney countered. "You're the one who's always getting injured around here!"

"I am _not_!" John shot back with an indignant but worried look.

"You are too!" Rodney countered.

"Am not!" The irritated tone increased a notch.

"Are too!" McKay was obviously enjoying this.

"Am not!" The pilot was too stubborn to concede the point.

"Are too!" The scientist was starting to look too smug for his own good.

"Am not!" Came another refute, if no one stopped this, it would obviously go on for quite a while.

Rodney took another breath about to argue back with an obvious "Are too!" when he was abruptly cut off by Elizabeth.

"BOYS!" Weir interceded with a shout. There was a look of amusement mixed with exasperation on her features as she shot an apologetic look to O'Neill.

"Oh, sorry Elizabeth, we... er—" Rodney stammered, looking slightly embarrassed as he pointed a thumb and a finger at the pilot then lowered them down not knowing what else to say.

"—Got carried away by the moment," Sheppard supplied sheepishly, as he narrowed his eyes shooting a look at Rodney as if to say "_This is not over yet_" before folding his arms and offering up a wry smile at Jack.

Rodney looked at the pilot then turned back towards O'Neill and Weir pointing back at Sheppard. "Hmm. Yes, what he said."

Elizabeth ignored the two men and turned back to face O'Neill with a lifted brow and a smile. "General? I believe we were saying our goodbyes?"

O'Neill smirked and stood on the balls of his feet. "Yes, I believe we were, Dr. Weir."

Having just witnessed the camaraderie between the Sheppard and McKay, it reminded him a little of the friendship he shared with Daniel Jackson. His gaze went back to McKay, assessing the scientist. The astrophysicist surprised him. Rodney had certainly changed for the better since he last met the scientist at SGC. Back then, he not only disliked the scientist but he also disrespected the guy. He still remembered how the scientist was willing to sacrifice Teal'c's life at the drop of a hat when the Jaffa had become trapped in a malfunctioning Stargate.

Now, O'Neill saw a different man, a man who was willing to risk life and limb for his friends and for those in Atlantis. A man who was loyal and brave, despite the quirks of his abrasive personality: he was now more than met the eye. Atlantis and the people within the Ancient city had changed him somehow. Jack suspected that maybe Sheppard had something to do with that, for the friendship that these two seemed to share was deep – they were willing to risk their lives for the other – both men had demonstrated that during the phantom's crisis at Atlantis.

Despite the odds, McKay appeared to be one of Sheppard's close friends. It meant something, for Jack O'Neill knew that the pilot was a good judge of character. He knew that Lt. Colonel John Sheppard would not have chosen McKay to be in his close circle of friends if the pilot didn't see something in the scientist. And from what Jack witnessed in his short time at Atlantis, these two men shared a close bond of camaraderie and friendship, quite similar to what he shared with Daniel Jackson. At first he could not understand why, but after seeing McKay in action over the crisis of the alien device, a new light of respect shone in Jack O'Neill's eyes for the acerbic astrophysicist. He came to realize that Dr. Rodney McKay had finally found where he belonged: the astrophysicist had found home and it made him the better person for it.

"Well, I'll see you when I see you. Good luck fighting off the bad guys," O'Neill quipped, giving them a casual smile as he took his backpack when the Stargate activated. His eyes roamed from Weir to Sheppard and settled last on McKay. "I can see that Atlantis is under good hands."

The scientist beamed happily at the praise as General Jack O'Neill stepped into the Stargate and was gone.

oOo

The Halloween party was in full swing at the mess hall of Atlantis; most personnel came in dressed as scary monsters, warlocks, witches, zombies, mummies and a whole variety of other outfits. However, there were a few mavericks that broke the mold and didn't go with the scary theme but nobody really seemed to mind.

As soon as Sheppard and McKay walked into the mess hall dressed in their Halloween costumes everyone turned to look at them in surprise. There were a few people who broke out in chuckles, giggles and laughter here and here.

"I can't believe you talked me into this!" Rodney grumbled, looking at the people who were sniggering at them. "I knew that I should have gone with my Einstein outfit! And you said that we were going to get scary outfits, but this Sheppard was _not _what I expected!"

"Relax Rodney," Sheppard drawled lazily looking at Rodney and shuddering slightly. "Oh, we look scary enough, believe me!" he said as he looked at the crowd, hoping to spot a familiar face. With everyone dressed up in Halloween costumes, it was quite difficult to identify people whom he knew. "Besides, somebody else had already taken the Einstein costume you had pre-booked, so you couldn't have been able to use it anyway, buddy."

McKay scowled. "Yes, I still can't believe that that happened! I tell you Sheppard, when I find out the culprit who was that took my costume I'm going the kill the guy! It's a fact of life that I'm the only Einstein around here!"

"Oh, I think you've made that quite clear enough, Rodney," John stated, only half paying attention to him. "Besides, Einstein isn't scary at all, and I believe the theme for the evening was meant to be scary?"

"What and you call _this _is scary?" Rodney griped in annoyance indicating his costume.

Sheppard looked at the scientist again and stated, "Actually, yes I _do_. Besides, what is there _not_ to find scary? Anyway, it fits with our injuries, won't you agree?"

"Huh," McKay mumbled, "Maybe you're right. I do remember the reasoning you gave me when you first showed it to me. It can be pretty scary and I must say that I've never been in favor of—"

"Clowns? Gentlemen?" Elizabeth's amused voice suddenly broke into their conversation. "Are you sure you're in the right party? After all, it's meant to be a Halloween party, not entertaining a kid's birthday party or a circus."

Turning around, John and Rodney gave a startled "Yikes!" when they sighted Weir's outfit. This elicited an amused giggle out from the Head of the Pegasus Expedition who was currently dressed as a Wraith Queen.

"It's a good thing that this is a Halloween party, Elizabeth, otherwise I might have to shoot you," John stated as he eyed the green dye and long stringy wig that Elizabeth wore, finding it difficult to believe that under all that makeup was the woman whom he respected and liked. Wraith Queens, he decided were scary creatures.

Weir laughed. "Well, we were going for scary right? So, what's more scarier in the Pegasus galaxy than a Wraith Queen?" she asked, arching an eyebrow as she took in their bright and baggy poker-dotted red and white outfits, with matching set of red noses painted on their white bandages. Their twin sets of bandaged ears also gave them both a comical look. Carson had revealed confidentially to her that John only had a graze to his left ear and that his right ear was uninjured, however, he got Beckett to bandage them up just to make Rodney feel better. Is was his unspoken way of thanking McKay for saving his life, even if Rodney didn't know about it. Perhaps, it was also his sneaky way of persuading Rodney to go with the clown outfit too, Weir didn't really know.

"Hey, clowns are scary creatures," John replied with a smirk of his upturned lip.

"Yeah," Rodney piped up, agreeing with Sheppard this time. "Haven't you seen the movie It? Now, that's one mean and scary clown!"

Elizabeth thought about it, looking at the two men before her. She blinked, smiled and nodded. "You're both right, gentlemen, I agree with you, clowns are scary indeed."

John smile widened, feeling pleased that he had won his point.

Suddenly Rodney spotted someone dressed in the Albert Einstein costume. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! You there!" he shouted at the man in the white wig, dressed like Einstein.

When the man turned around, Rodney gasped in outraged surprise. "_Radek?!!_ You're the one who _stole _my costume idea?! Why you, you…"

"Good to see you too, Rodney," Zelenka approached, greeting them with a smug smile pasted on his face.

Rodney looked like he was about to explode. "I was supposed to come as Albert Eisntein! You stole my order! If there's any going to be any Einstein here, it's me! Me-me-me-me!"

Radek Zelenka snorted, laughing at his face. "Well lady in rent-an-outfit store said this was available as you didn't collect it when it was due, I took it instead. So for tonight, I'm Einstein! You are a clown!"

Rodney bristled. "I was unconscious in the infirmary! For five days! How did you except me to get back to her to collect my order, huh?! But you already knew that didn't you?!"

"Rodney... calm down," Sheppard nudged his friend with his elbow, "Besides, we're meant to be scary, remember?" came the lazy drawl.

"Er.. excuse me, Colonel?" Radek broke in sheepishly. "Clowns are … well, clowns. Don't people, little kids especially laugh at them?"

"Oh, so untrue, Zelenka! Remember Stephen King's It? Now that was a scary clown! As a kid, I've always been scared of clowns. See this big red nose that we have on and the red painted mouth that's waaaaay out of proportion, in addition to our white painted faces? Come on, you've got to admit, Radek, they're even scarier than Wraiths! Stephen King got it right - clowns are one of the scariest creatures on Earth!"

"Xena!" Elizabeth exclaimed with a girlish giggle as the Athosian approached the small group dressed in tight leather outfit. Her brownish blondish hair had been dyed jet black for the occasion.

"Huh, I've always called her Xena, so I suppose that's where she got the idea from," Rodney observed, looking at the Athosian in admiration. Sheppard and the rest of the men mirrored him.

Xena Teyla gave the little group of admirers a polite Athosian head bow and replied with a smile. "That is true, Rodney. I decided to do a little research of my own and discovered that she was a warrior princess among her people; a great fighter and defender of the weak and innocent. It is my honor to represent her here."

At that moment, Ronon walked into the mess hall dressed in a loin cloth while carrying a spear and nothing else.

"Whoa! Tarzan, King of the jungle! Good choice, Ronon! Over here!" Sheppard waved the former runner over. From the corner of his eye, John saw Elizabeth and Teyla admiring the Satedan's tanned muscular body, just as the guys had been checking out the Athosian a moment ago.

"Hmm, yes, ape man! You actually look like Disney's animated version of Tarzan!" Rodney observed as he stared at the former Runner.

"You calling me a cartoon, McKay?" Ronon shot back, his tone dark and threatening.

Rodney took a large nervous gulp and quickly stepped behind Sheppard for protection. "Er, a very _good _looking cartoon?" he stammered.

"Rodney, clowns do not hide behind other clowns, they're meant to be scary, remember?" Sheppard hissed softly to his friend.

Ronon's glower suddenly turned into a grin. "Relax McKay, I've seen that cartoon. Sheppard showed it to us on movie night. There's where I got the idea from."

"Really?" Rodney took a step forward again, breathing a big sigh of relief.

"Well, good choice, buddy," Sheppard said with a smirk, noticing that there were several attractive women gathered in the mess hall who were now standing close by admiring the Satedan's muscular biceps.

"I think you could easily pick up a few Janes there, Ronon." John stated, gesturing the Satedan towards the young women.

"Janes?" Ronon inquired.

"You know, Tarzan and Jane?" John replied. Ronon turned to look at the pretty women before turning to grin back at Sheppard and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not ready for that yet, Sheppard," he stated.

Sheppard shrugged his shoulders. "Your loss."

"Hey, Tarzan's not a scary outfit!" Rodney complained as if only now realizing it.

Ronon gave McKay a ferocious snarl, making the scientist yelp as he stepped behind Sheppard once again, stammering out, "Okay, it's scary! It's scary!"

A dark figure approached them giving out deep mechanical breathing sounds.

"Cool! Darth Vader!" John exclaimed, wishing he had thought of that idea. "Who's under the mask of a great galactic villain?" he asked curiously.

"Major Lorne, sir," came the deep muffled reply.

"Niiice!" Sheppard said, wishing that he didn't have a broken nose otherwise that might have been his choice of costume. After all, Vader was a pilot as a kid and got to fly cool ships.

"Excuse me," Zelenka cut in suddenly, "I'm going to change into my Count Dracula outfit now."

"_What?!_" Rodney demanded, looking at his assistant in aghast. "You have _two _outfits? Oh, you petty little man! You took the Einstein outfit so that I won't be able to rent it on purpose!" he accused the Czech scientist.

"There is a saying," Radek gloated. "Revenge is sweet. Next time it's best to remember your assistant's name is Zunka not Zelenka."

"Oh, you heard about that, did you?" Rodney replied sheepishly. Zelenka nodded.

"Hey, is that Carson?" Wraith Queen Weir suddenly asked as she pointed to a pirate figure that approached them.

"What?" All four men turned around to where Elizabeth was indicating.

Rodney gasped. "He has a peg-leg!"

"Hardy-har-har! And how are we today, me hardies?!" Carson Beckett greeted them with a big grin on his face, a pirate patch over one eye and a toy parrot sitting on his shoulder. He wagged his eyebrows at Weir and Teyla said, "C'mere me buxom beauties and give this pirate a hearty kiss!"

Elizabeth almost choked on her drink. "Carson Beckett, are you drunk?!" she admonished him, unable to believe what he just said. She shot John Sheppard a look and blushed even more.

"Nay, me beauty!" Carson replied cheekily, "Only just playing the part of a dashing pirate now! We say that to all pretty ladies now…. Hardy-har-har!"

"Carson! Where are your crutches?!" Rodney demanded.

Beckett grinned at them. "I figured the cast went well with me costume! A peg-leg that's not even fake!"

"So, how did you do it, doc? It certainly looks real enough," Darth Vader Lorne noted with admiration.

"Aye, it does, doesn't it?" Carson agreed, looking more than a little pleased. "That's something we can thank me mate Radek for!"

"What? Radek chopped off your leg?" Rodney asked sarcastically.

Zelenka, who hadn't left yet to change into his Dracula outfit , beamed with delight. "Last week, I was studying the holographic imagery of the Ancient cube device. Combining it with what we know of the Asguard's holographic technology, I managed to create a portable mini holographic conductor that projects what appears to be a peg-leg of Carson's limb."

"Arr! Me leg's still there," Carson nodded and beamed happily away as he deactivated the mini holographic device by pressing a button on his stuff parrot's breast. The image of the peg leg instantly disappeared to be replaced by a white cast with some unique supporters and a small device attached to it.

"Another one of Zelenka's inventions, so that I don't have to use crutches," Carson explained as he turned on the portable holographic unit - the cast vanished to be replaced by the peg-leg again.

"Impressive," Weir stated.

"Yes," Radek beamed happily away. "That's why I'm Albert Einstein and he's the clown!" he quipped, shooting Rodney a satisfied look and ignoring the ugly glare that was shot back at him by his boss.

oOo

John Sheppard was tired. The Halloween party had been a roaring success and was still going strong with many people remaining in the mess hall eating and drinking and having a ball of a time. However, for John, it had been a long evening and his wounded shoulder, chest and wrist were aching more than usual. As a result, he decided to take it easy and retire early for the night. He saw the worried looks that his friends gave him as he excused himself but fortunately they didn't make a scene as he assured them that he was all right, just tired.

"Remember to take yer pain medications, Colonel, then off to bed," Carson reminded him. Rodney too decided to turn in early after Sheppard made his announcement. Teyla escorted the scientist back to his quarters just to make sure that he was all right, while Ronon insisted on following John back to his quarters.

When they arrived at his destination, he breathed a sigh of relief, looking forward to sleeping in his own bed after spending two weeks in the infirmary. After Ronon saw that he was going to be all right, the former runner left going back to the Halloween party. That was after Sheppard assured the Satedan that he was fine and could handle getting into bed without passing out.

The first thing Sheppard did was to head for the shower to wash off all the clown makeup and pull off the bandages from his ears. Nothing felt better than to have a refreshing wash before heading off to your own comfortable bed to retire for the night. It had been awkward trying to take a shower one handed, with a plastic bag covering the cast around his broken wrist, but somehow he managed it.

After his warm shower, he felt more refreshed and less tired. Wiping himself down with a thick bath towel and donning on a clean set of cloths, Sheppard padded bare footed over to the table with the mirror hanging on the wall in his quarters. As he reached it, he picked up the comb to comb his unruly hair. However, Sheppard's gaze went instinctively to Colonel Sumner's dog tags that he hung on the wall beside the tabletop. Reaching out, he fingered it, remembering the burden of guilt he felt every time he looked at it. He had left it there on purpose as a reminder to him of his failure to save his CO's life two and a half years ago. Frowning slightly, he removed it from the hook, feeling the familiar weight of the dog tags in the palm of his hand. He traced letters of Sumner's name with his eyes.

"I wished I could have done more, sir," he whispered softly, feeling a tinge of regret. "But I know that you would have preferred me to end it for you."

A soft gentle breeze caressed his skin, startling him as he knew that there were no windows open in his quarters. "_You did well, soldier. You did exactly as I wanted of you. I'm proud of you Lt. Colonel_," he heard the words sounding every much like Sumner's voice echo in his mind.

John looked up startled. He saw his own image in the mirror reflected back at him. However, standing behind him was the ghostly image of Colonel Marshall Sumner appraising him just as he remembered him when he was alive. However, unlike the phantom that he had recently experienced, there was no menacing look in Sumner's eyes. What he saw reflected in them was grudging respect instead. The Colonel was in dress uniform and he gave Sheppard a brisk officer's salute and a curt smile when he saw John staring at him through the mirror's reflection. "_Hey, it's Halloween night, the one night where we ghosts can appear to those still living,_" Sumner said as if that explained everything. "_Take care, Sheppard, it's my choice that you're here now. Do me proud, look after Atlantis, and I won't kick your ass." _

Sheppard whipped around to look behind him, but saw no one there. Turning back to glance into the mirror, he saw that the ghostly image of Marshall Sumner was gone. He wondered what he had seen. Was it a dream, his imagination or had Sumner's ghost really paid him a visit? Yet, a sense of peace settled in his heart; the guilt that he carried with him for more than two and half years was no longer present. Smiling softly to himself, he knew what he had to do. Taking one last long look at the dog tags in his hand, he opened the drawer, placed Sumner's dog tags gently inside in a small box and closed the lid. The ghost of Colonel Marshal Sumner had finally been laid to rest.

**The End**

_AN: For this final chapter, my grateful thanks also goes to Deana for suggesting Carson's Halloween costume and helping me out with some of his dialog when I got stuck on ideas on what he should wear! For all you Carson fans out there, check out her cool story Stranded, which she is also currently working on._

_So ends PryoDragon2006's writing challenge. Hopefully, this tale met up with her requirements. Currently, she's writing a cool story titled "A Time to Heal" which is for Shep whump fans out there. Check it out if you haven't already. I would also like to thank ESCotLoE for all her help in beta-ing part of this story, until she had to stop from due to RL commitments. I got to know the SGA characters better as a result of her help to which I owe my thanks. Therefore, if you spotted any grammatical errors, they are all mine. _


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